Visitors to East Africa traveling with E-Trip Africa will be allowed to cancel their Safari or Trek for a refund in the unlikely event of an Ebola Outbreak.
KENYA, TANZANIA, UGANDA, AND RWANDA – ARUSAH, TANZANIA – E-Trip Africa, a division of the US based Worldwide Travel Group, LLC, has announced changes to their cancellation policy, allowing clients to cancel their safaris or treks for a refund in the event of an Ebola Outbreak in East Africa.
“The world has been focused on the recent Ebola Outbreak in West Africa and the lack of factual information have lead consumers to believe that it is not safe to travel in East Africa,” states Aurelie Sivadier, Executive Director of E-Trip Africa. “We are not only working to ensure that people have facts in hand when deciding if their Safari or Trekking plans will be safe for them and their families, but we are reassuring our clients that in the unlikely event Ebola becomes a risk in a country that is part of their itinerary they can cancel their trip without incurring standard cancellation penalties.”
Cancellation policies for Safaris in East Africa are often regarded as some of the strictest in the world. Most of the hotels, lodges, and camps have are small, with a limited number of rooms and the season is relatively short, so they can’t risk having empty rooms. Thus, full payment is typically due 45 to 90 days in advance and cancellation of a room less than 60 days in advance often carries as high as a 100% penalty.
“The Ebola Outbreak in West Africa has shattered Safari goers’ confidence,” says Ben Jennings, General Manager of E-Trip Africa, who runs the operations office in Arusha, Tanzania. “We can keep reminding people that there have been no cases of Ebola in East Africa, or that the Serengeti is further from the Ebola Outbreak than London all we want. But until we are ready to take action, we can’t expect to diminish peoples fear, especially since no one knows how this outbreak will play out in the long term. By allowing clients to cancel their trip for a refund, in the implausible event that the situation changes, we are taking action to show our clients that there is nothing to worry about when planning a trip to East Africa,” states Jennings.
Since the discovery of the Ebola Virus in 1976, there have been 24 recorded outbreaks, primarily in Central Africa. Most outbreaks saw less than 150 people infected and until 2014 the largest outbreak infected a recorded 425 people. The high transmission rates seen in West Africa in 2014, are likely due to traditional burial practices, which are believed to be behind more than 2/3 of all cases.
The Ebola Virus is transmitted between humans only through direct contact with blood or body fluid from an infected person. The virus must have an entry point in order to infect a human, which can be via the nose, mouth, eyes, or open wounds, cuts and abrasions. According to the World Health Organization, air-born transmission of Ebola is impossible.
The risk of contracting the virus by traveling on the same flight as an infected person is virtually inexistent. “This is not an airborne transmission,” said Dr. Marty Cetron, director of CDC’s Division of Global Migration and Quarantine. “There needs to be direct contact frequently with body fluids or blood of an infected person.”
To date the current outbreak has infected just over 10,000 people mostly in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. Additionally, there have been some isolated infections in Nigeria, Senegal, Mali, Spain, and the United States.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
