originally posted on 3/16/2020
Over the years, ACE has had event cancellations owing to weather and park closures, and even lost a trip day and a visit to Parque España owing to Typhoon Trami during the recent 2018 international trip to Japan. But this is likely the first time ACE ever lost an event, never mind a whole trip, to a virus. Uncertainty about whether the host country would be able to provide at least a relatively safe and healthy environment led to the decision to postpone the Viva l’ACEtalia! international trip indefinitely.
As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) spread in China and neighboring countries, it made a surprisingly quick leap around the globe to ACE’s preferred travel destination this year – Italy. In the span of a few days, new cases were found and travel advisories were put into place, including a dire U.S. Department of State Level 4 – Do Not Travel advisory for areas of northern Italy that were to be included during the last few days of the proposed trip (Gardaland, Movieland Park, Milan, Venice and other park and city destinations).
Health concerns quickly also became practical concerns with a rapidly changing landscape and the ultimate outcome unknown. Trip coordinators closely watched the disturbing news about the virus, which had been recognized as an epidemic by both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO). Airlines began suspending flights to and from affected regions.
Trip coordinators had been rapidly finalizing hotel and travel details, and a web page was being created, in an effort to post the trip information and open up registration to prospective attendees. Ideally, the registration to accept deposits would have started in January for the July trip date, but tying up the last few loose ends was taking longer than expected. In a bit of an ironic twist, that delay of starting registration, which initially had nothing to do with world events, ended up being a bit of a blessing in disguise.
Trip coordinators were just about to start signing hotel agreements with nonrefundable commitments, and members were about to start sending in hundreds of dollars for initial trip deposits. (Some had even already purchased airline tickets.) While the travel industry has shown itself to be fairly flexible with refunds and cancellations during this difficult time, it is hard to know what sort of further financial implications there would have been for ACE and its members.
“Every time we discussed it, it seemed like some statistic had grown considerably larger since the last time we discussed,” said Alex Rigsby, one of the trip coordinators. “When the U.S. government released travel advisories regarding Italy, in general, and then even strong advisories about specific areas of Italy we had plans to be in, it was not a difficult decision to make.”
While ultimately, though unlikely, the decision to defer the trip may prove to be unnecessary owing to a temporary crisis situation, concern for the health, safety and enjoyment of attendees is always at the forefront. Trip coordinators want to provide a trip filled with wonderful memories. “In a few months, perhaps the coronavirus will be virtually wiped out with warmer temperatures across the northern hemisphere, but we had to face the decision based on the info we had,” said Rigsby. Rest assured that as soon as trips such as the one that was planned for Italy are feasible, trip coordinators will have ACEers packing their passports again.
— Jerry Willard
ACE Past President
@#$%&!
#ACENews