Fears of the coronavirus continue to disrupt international event plans, with airlines canceling flights to China. Some corporations are forbidding business travel to the country, and require employees and members of their households who plan go there for personal reason to notify their employer.
Meeting professionals across the world are checking their cancellation and attrition clauses as events brace for the coronavirus fallout, says our sister publications group MeetingsNet:
“We are seeing direct impacts on programs that travel to or through China—even programs a year away,” said Beau Ballin, commercial leader, North America, CWT Meetings & Events. “Just yesterday, one of our clients made the difficult decision to move the destination for its 2021 program in Bali, Indonesia, as a result of most flights routing through Hong Kong.
“While the client’s program may not be until 2021, the drivers for a change in destination were quite simple,” Ballin said. “First, current travel restrictions made the site inspection planned for next week challenging. Second, and perhaps more important, is the perception and risk associated with the travel in the context of a plan to announce [to prospective qualifiers] and celebrate the destination this week. The client simply felt that … " MeetingsNet
