Travel agents rushed as hurricanes change plans

The recent hurricanes have caused plenty of damage already, but they're not completely winded just yet. Now they're dampening holiday travel plans to warm-weather regions like the Caribbean.

Hurricane Wilma wrecked Mexican vacation destinations Cancun and Cozumel, and some hotels there are closed at least through Christmas. Florida resorts were also banged up, but they expect to reopen sooner.

Still, area travel agents say the damage will cut into the travel plans of many tourists coming at a terrible time -- the height of the winter holiday season.

"We're in hell," said Carolyn Kempf, owner of Elite Travel in Cape Girardeau. "It's been a very active hurricane season. All of these people are calling in to check their status. It's overwhelming."

Kempf said on Thursday some of their agency's clients from Cape Girardeau were still stranded in Cancun. Some of the locals were relocated to a movie theater, where they stayed for more than three days.

Kempf would not say who the people were, only that they had plenty of food and water and were expected to be safely back in the United States in a matter of days.

Meanwhile, she said, people are becoming more and more reluctant to travel in hurricane season.

"I had a guy tell me the other day he won't travel in the fall anymore," she said. "This has just been a very, very hard season for us."

While some have canceled their plans to Mexico, others haven't.

"People who are traveling there in the next 30 days are very anxious," Kempf said. "Everybody's frustrated because we don't have a lot of answers back from Mexico yet."

Barbara Rhein, a consultant with First Class Travel in Cape Girardeau, said they also had some clients in Cancun during Hurricane Wilma. The agency kept in contact with them as much as possible and all of their clients are home now.

Now, First Class is monitoring the situation daily in Mexico to see if it's safe enough for new tourists to go there. Rhein said it's a busy time of year for newlyweds to want to go to Cancun.

But some people still want to go to Cancun, damaged or not.

Rhein came into work Monday morning with a note from someone wanting to go to Cancun Nov. 30.

"Cancun is very popular," Rhein said. "It's relatively inexpensive to go there and people love the beautiful beaches and colorful water. This won't stop some people from wanting to go there."

So when will it be safe to go back there?

"Safe? As far as any more hurricanes?" asks Rhein. "Boy, who knows. Hurricane season is usually over by now. Now we're dealing with [Hurricane] Beta."

John Harper of Harper's Travel Service in Sikeston, Mo., said the travel industry is just recovering from the effects of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, which left tourists afraid to fly.

"It was just beginning to come back," he said. "There was a lot of pent-up demand. We were beginning to make a come back. Now, it seems like you wake up every day and another storm's coming."

Harper said it's hard to gauge how badly his business has been affected. He said the agency hasn't had time to assess the financial damage.

"We've got customers to worry about," he said. "There are a lot of people who want to go to that area and we still don't know if they're going to be able to go or not."

smoyers@semissourian.com

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