Alert not seen as deterrent to travel abroad

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Even as the U.S. State Department issued a global travel alert for those heading overseas, travel agents in Baldwin said they don’t anticipate a drop-off in travel or any cancellations.

“It won’t hurt the travel industry,” Marcia Bader, president of Landow Travel, predicted, saying that the public won’t change plans because of the warnings. She gave as an example a recent WWE wrestling event that was threatened with an attack, but went on as scheduled, without incident.

Bader said she invited a group of friends over to watch the event, and she asked them if they would go through with their travel plans if they had already purchased tickets. All of them said they would, unless they were considering bringing a child along; in that case, she said, some said they would think twice.

“This is how we live,” Bader said. “You’ve got to go about your life.”

Claudia Rabin-Manning, president of Trump Travel in Baldwin, agreed. “Thankfully, at this moment, no one has canceled their plans,” she said.

She noted that “this is not a busy time,” because those who made holiday travel plans already have their schedules set. “We’re busy in January and February, because people are freezing and want to get out of town,” Rabin-Manning said, so they start scheduling getaways.

The State Department issued its warning after the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris. “The State Department alerts U.S. citizens to possible risks of travel due to increased terrorist threats,” the warning states. “Current information suggests that ISIL (aka Da’esh), al-Qa’ida, Boko Haram, and other terrorist groups continue to plan terrorist attacks in multiple regions. These attacks may employ a wide variety of tactics, using conventional and non-conventional weapons and targeting both official and private interests.”

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