New variant of COVID is already altering travel in the world

The consequences of the potentially more dangerous new variant of COVID-19, detected in southern Africa, is adding new frustrations to travelers, just as a return to normalcy was in sight.

The United States, members of the European Union, Canada and Hong Kong are restricting travel from various southern African nations. The United Kingdom suspended flights, included six African countries in its “red list”Of travel and will require arriving travelers to stay in quarantine hotels in an attempt to control the spread of variant B.1.1.529, to which the World Health Organization assigned the Greek letter omicron.

These measures will make some travel plans more expensive. The inclusion of South Africa on the British red list jeopardized the graduation plans of Lizelle Nightingale. The 38-year-old, originally from Northampton, UK, intended to travel to the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa, where she planned to celebrate her business degree.

Nightingale and her husband spent 1,600 pounds (US $ 2,131) in total for flights during the first week of December, in addition to the cost of her prom dress and car rental. If the couple go ahead with their plans, they will now have to book a quarantine hotel on their return, which will cost them more than 4,000 pounds, not to mention 11 nights of isolation.

“It breaks my heart because I was looking forward to my graduation“, said Nightingale, who is still trying to decide whether to travel or not. “It is my first degree and it is something that I have worked a lot for. I started crying when I found out ”.

Callum Perry landed in London on Friday morning as the travel landscape changed. The 26-year-old conservationist lives in Limpopo, South Africa, and came to the UK to visit his father for health reasons.

But now he worries that he won’t be able to travel back home. You are watching flights to South Africa get canceled and you are concerned that yours, scheduled for next Friday, will also be canceled.

“We are seeing countries like the UK moving very quickly, so the number one challenge is that closures are happening faster than ever.“, said John Clifford, President of International Travel Management. “People feel stranded and marginalized”.

But there are services that can get you back to your home country if you get stuck. Clifford says two services he recommends are Medjet – a global medical transportation and crisis response company – and Covac Global, which offers evacuation and repatriation services.

“The first and best thing you can do is get a cancellation travel policy for any reason“, said Clifford. “Most travel companies sell some form of CFAR travel insurance. Usually its cost is around 15% of the pre-purchase expenses”.

That does not offer a full refund; usually it is between 40% and 80% of your loss. But it does at least give you some money back when you cancel a non-refundable trip for an unexpected reason, he said.