Florida tour firms forced to cut prices as Zika virus spreads
PREGNANT women have been advised to consider postponing non-essential trips to Florida, following the first local outbreaks of the Zika virus there.
Many tour operators are now offering mothers-to-be the chance to re-book their trips elsewhere or have a refund.
Meanwhile, big discounts of up to 40 per cent are being made available for people who still wish to travel despite the risks, in a bid to fill the hotel rooms and flights used by 1.7 million Brits last year.
Health officials have updated the US state’s risk level to ‘moderate’ after four people contracted the virus without travelling abroad or having unprotected sex with another sufferer.
Zika is a mosquito-borne disease which for adults is relatively harmless – causing only a mild fever, joint pain and rashes.
But thousands of babies who contracted the disease from their mothers have been born with microcephaly, a condition which causes them to be born with smaller heads and disabilities.
The Government’s National Travel Health and Network centre have advised pregnant women to consider postponing non-essential trips to Florida.
UK tourists to Florida were also told to consider a ‘ban’ on unprotected sex during their trip and for eight weeks afterwards, as the virus can be transmitted this way.
Following the updated health guidelines, British tour operators Thomas Cook, Thompson and First Choice announced on Friday that they would grant free Florida holiday cancellations or amendments for pregnant tourists with trips booked up until December 31.
British Airways said mothers-tobe could change any destination for free while Virgin Holidays offered its customers full refunds.
Meanwhile, some of those travel companies massively slashed their prices for package holidays to Florida – offering more than 40 per cent discount on certain bookings.
One Thomas Cook deal offers 14 nights in Florida for two adults with flights and car hire for £1,080, a price drop of 42 per cent.
Another offers two adults 14 nights in a luxury five-star Orlando apartment with flights at a saving of 35 percent or £1,108, totalling £2,032. Virgin and Thomson are also cutting hundreds of pounds from their Florida deals, with Thomson offering flights and seven nights at the Walt Disney World Resort for just £572 per person – saving £437.
Experts warned holidaymakers that travel companies are under no legal obligation to offer discounts
‘Consider postponing travel’
or alterations in light of the public health warning, and advised them to always purchase insurance.
Some 53 people – including three in Yorkshire last week – have tested positive for the virus in Britain after visiting infected countries since the outbreak began in May 2015.