TRAVELER'S ADVISORY: FEAR OF SARS MENACES TRAVEL INDUSTRY.

Byline: Staff and Wire Services

Travelers are finding their itineraries changed in midtrip, ships rerouted and tours canceled as financially pressed airlines, tour operators and cruise lines struggle to deal with the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome in Asia.

``The travel industry has been absolutely devastated by the war (in Iraq), and now this,'' said Chris Boycott, president of Adventures Abroad, a Vancouver, British Columbia-based tour operator that suspended its China trips and worked recently to reroute tour groups away from Hanoi and Hong Kong, where SARS has spread. ``These are tough days.''

In a further blow to Canadian and Chinese tourism, the World Health Organization advised against traveling to Toronto, Beijing and to China's Shanxi province to help curb the pneumonia-like disease. An earlier WHO recommendation discouraged travel to China's Guangdong province, where SARS originated, and neighboring Hong Kong, where the disease struck in March. SARS has infected more than 2,600 worldwide and killed 100.

So far, 15 people in Canada have died of the disease, which kills about 5 percent of the people it infects.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta has advised against travel to mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Hanoi, Vietnam. Additionally, the organization issued a travel alert concerning Toronto, advising visitors to the city to avoid settings where SARS would likely be transmitted, such as health care facilities.

Airlines have drastically reduced their flights in and out of Hong Kong and reduced service to other Asian cities.

In Thailand, the government was requiring foreigners coming from the places hardest hit - China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam and Taiwan - to wear surgical masks. And in Malaysia, where citizens of China and Hong Kong are being denied entry, officials suspended an agreement that sets minimum prices for air fares, freeing airlines to cut fares to counter a 40 percent decline in bookings.

Despite a U.S. State Department warning against travel to mainland China, Hong Kong and Vietnam, some tour operators, mainly those whose trips are arranged by Chinese suppliers, are going ahead with trips, especially popular Yangtze River cruises. In those cases, customers are being offered the chance to rebook for a later date, but cannot cancel without paying the usual penalties.

Before Sept. 11, 2001, tour companies traditionally offered refunds if the government issued a travel warning about a destination. But that's starting to change - the result of suppliers being hit hard by the Iraq war.

``There are a lot of penalties that a lot of suppliers are sticking to, so we're basically passing them on,'' said Gerry Kerr, marketing director for Pacific Delight Tours, North America's largest Asian tour operator.

Pacific Delight is allowing customers booked on trips to China and Vietnam this spring to rebook through December 2004 with no penalty. But so far, the company has not canceled any of its tours.

``There are people who are determined to go, even in April and May,'' Kerr said. Those who do are being asked to sign a waiver saying they are aware of the State Department warning.

Some tour operators are making last-minute decisions on cancellations as they look for ways to reroute their trips to avoid affected areas.

``We've got a couple booked on a China tour with an extension to Mongolia, and Uniworld (Cruise Line) is saying 'no problem,' '' said Gail Norris, consultant for Premier Travel & Cruise in Springfield, Ore. ``This tour doesn't go out for another six weeks, but clients are nervous.''

Other companies have moved more quickly to cancel trips and refund payments.

Globus and Cosmos tour companies canceled all trips to Vietnam until further notice and canceled trips to China through June because they were unable to reroute passengers to avoid Hong Kong. Customers are expected to get full refunds.

REI Adventures, which has a policy of calling off trips in areas where the government issues a travel warning, recently canceled a tour to North China for middle-school students, as well as a number of Vietnam bicycling trips.

Customers were given full refunds, said manager Cynthia Dunbar. Decisions are pending about future trips, including tours to China scheduled next month, but Dunbar said REI waived penalties for those who wanted to cancel.

Holland America Line changed the routing of two of its cruises to avoid ports of call in mainland China and Hong Kong. Both will now sail from Osaka, Japan, and make calls in South Korea and Russia.

Passengers can choose to rebook on another cruise for 75 percent credit, or accept the rerouting and Holland America will pay for any extra charges for air fare and hotels, said spokesman Erik Elvejord.

The situation in Asia with SARS has been changing almost daily since the World Health Organization issued its first alert last month.

Ninety percent of the cases reported worldwide have been in Hong Kong and nearby cities in the Guangdong Province. On April 16, David L. Heymann, executive director in charge of communicable diseases for WHO, said experiments in the Netherlands confirmed that SARS is caused by a new coronavirus - one for which, so far, there is no vaccine.

Even experienced travelers, normally unfazed by war or threats of terrorist attacks, were raising questions on Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree online bulletin board about traveling to Vietnam and Thailand later this spring and summer.

``It's looking like it's going to be a long, long, drawn-out battle,'' said Dr. Gavin Joynt, director of the intensive care unit at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Hong Kong.

--For the latest updates on SARS, contact the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at [phone] or www.cdc.gov; the World Health Organization at www.who.int/en; and the U.S. State Department at www.travel.state.gov.

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--For the latest updates on SARS (see text)