Media Room

MetroWest Daily News (Framingham,MA) Friday, July 8, 2005: Some travelers postponed European trips following terrorist attacks in London yesterday, but there wasn't evidence of mass cancellations, according to industry watchers and travel agents.

"Generally speaking, people don't flip out and cancel trips without thinking carefully about it," said Art Kinsman, a spokesman for AAA Southern New England. "They're processing everything right now to see what's recommended" by the government.

As of yesterday, Kinsman still planned to take a scheduled flight to London on Sunday. He'll be chaperoning a group of students who will tour England and France for school. Parents and students are meeting tonight to talk things through and share information, he said.

"Unless I'm told specifically, 'Americans should not travel abroad,' I'm not going to change my plans," Kinsman said.

Bob Whitley, president of the United States Tour Operators Association, said members were reporting some travelers postponing planned trips to Europe this week. He said the fallout would have been worse, however, if the attacks affected air travel.

Dee Sostek, a travel agent for Garber Travel Services in Newton, yesterday said she dealt with clients headed to London who were modifying their trip plans. Arthur LoPresti, director of leisure sales for the company, which also has a Natick office, said it was too early to tell how many cancellations might come in.

LoPresti said Garber has an office in London and first checked to make sure employees there were safe. He was in the process of running internal reports to check on clients in London as well.

"We are making sure they don't need any additional help," he said.

Another MetroWest travel agency didn't expect any major changes.

"We have not seen any dramatic number of calls coming in where people are changing their plans," said Mark Miller, chief operating officer for [Atlas Travel International] in Milford. "There has not been a dramatic or really any cancellations of people's plans at this point in time."

For those preparing to travel or already out and about, Miller advised: "Have a heightened sense of awareness. As someone who travels, I try to understand where I'm at and my surroundings as best as possible."

Airline analysts yesterday were not expecting a major impact on international travel.

Jamie Baker, an analyst at J.P. Morgan Securities, said "given the size of the U.K. tourist market and disruptions to its infrastructure, it is reasonable to expect a slight decline in U.K. booking levels for at least the next six to 10 weeks."

(Associated Press material was used in this report. Andrew J. Manuse can be reached at amanuse@cnc.com or 508-626-3964.)

 

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