Chinese travel sites offer free cancellations for Wuhan bookings amid virus outbreak

Companies say policy will also cover those who have been quarantined or diagnosed with the pneumonia-like illness

Jump in cases has sent jitters among travellers ahead of this week’s Lunar New Year holiday

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A passenger has her temperature checked at Wuhan’s airport on Tuesday. The virus outbreak began in the city in December. Photo: AP

Published: 6:01pm, 21 Jan 2020Updated: 2:46pm, 17 Feb 2020

Chinese travel booking platforms from Trip.com to Alibaba Group’s Fliggy on Tuesday said they would offer free cancellations on bookings made for Wuhan amid mounting fears over a viral outbreak in the central Chinese city.

The companies, which also include Meituan Dianping and Qunar.com, said in separate but similar statements that the policy would be extended to users who had been quarantined or diagnosed with the new coronavirus. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

As of Tuesday, nearly 300 people had been diagnosed globally, with all but a handful in China, and most of them in Wuhan, a city of 11 million people. This has sent jitters among travellers as hundreds of millions of Chinese prepare to travel for the Lunar New Year holiday this week.

The holiday is traditionally a high season for tourism and retail industries in China and overseas, but confirmation from health authorities that the virus spreads through human contact and calls for heightened vigilance is prompting concerns that many will opt to stay home during the week-long break.

The travel booking platforms said Chinese civil aviation and railway authorities had still to set a special cancellation policy, but that they would try to meet the needs of customers wanting to cancel their trips.

Some travellers said they were not taking any chances.

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