Lady Luck smiles on travelers heading south

Hurricane Dean is not
causing serious problems
for many tourists.

By LAUREN POLINSKY

VINDICTOR STAFF WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — As hurricane season gets under way, tropical vacation destinations such as the Caribbean and Mexico lose popularity, say local travel agents.

The late summer/early fall season is typically considered “off-season” by resorts in hurricane-prone areas. Most resorts offer lower prices to try and entice vacationers, but according to a some Youngstown-area travel agencies, most people still stay away.

The few travelers who have decided to gamble with Hurricane Dean that is currently trying to tear apart Mexico have gotten lucky, the travel agents said.

“This is the time of the year that travel to that area is low. It is not cold enough here yet to drive people down, so not a whole lot of travelers are effected by hurricanes,” said Ruth Nagy, an American Automobile Association representative.

Of the seven area agencies that commented about clients traveling south of the border, four reported no cancellations and no clients stranded or coming home early.

The other three had minor issues that arose and were easily dealt with. AAA said it has had a few discussions with people who are scheduled to go down to Mexico in the coming weeks but that hurricanes are too unpredictable to make any drastic changes in plans.

“We hate to have people cancel their trips too early,” Nagy said.

Trip postponed

Howland Tours and Travel said rescheduling trips because of natural disasters is not as difficult as it sounds. One of its clients, a honeymooning couple, was supposed to leave Sunday for Montego Bay but canceled airline flights caused them to postpone their departure until Tuesday.

This agency pointed out that when situations like this arise, it is not the travelers who lose money. Airlines will reschedule flights and resorts have hurricane policies that compensate travelers. The couple will still get to stay for seven days like they originally had planned.

Tippecanoe Travel Service on Canfield Road, Youngstown, said the only problem it saw was when a few of its clients who were on a cruise ship in the Grand Cayman Islands got rerouted, but the agency pointed out that is a common thing and does not typically ruin a trip.

Travel Dimensions in Boardman said it only had one couple who chose to significantly change their plans. The couple was originally set to vacation in Cancun, but when the hurricane decided to plow into the popular tourist spot, the couple decided to visit Puerto Canta instead.

Hurricane Dean hit the Caribbean coast of Mexico on Tuesday as a Category 5 hurricane, the most intense Atlantic Ocean storm to make landfall in two decades, before weakening during the course of the day, according to the Associated Press. It weakened shortly after making landfall, and by 2 p.m. Eastern Time had dropped to a Category 1 storm with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph.