Travel expert Mark Murphy recently appeared on Fox Business to break down the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak's impact on travel in the wake of the U.S. State Department's latest advisory warning Americans of "increased risk of infection of COVID-19 in a cruise ship environment."
"Originally over the weekend when cruise executives met with administration officials it wasn't 'don't take a cruise,' it was 'if you're elderly, your immune system is at risk or you have underlying health issues, avoid it.' That makes sense," said Murphy. "For everybody else, feel free to travel."
"But it's worded differently today. So we see a disconnect," he added, referring to the sometimes inconsistent information coming from government agencies and health officials.
Murphy, who predicted that the coronavirus will no longer be a news story in 60 days' time, noted that the industry can take comfort in its long record of overcoming health threats and encouraged travelers to maintain a proper perspective.
"There are people making a ton of money right now based on this hysteria. And I call it hysteria because we in the travel space have gone through everything from Ebola to Zika to H1N1. You go down the line, we've never seen this kind of action as a result," he said. "Put the numbers in perspective. We're talking a couple of million people got off a cruise ship last month and we had two ships that had an issue. The metrics are very minimal. I'm not saying go jump on a cruise but apply logic to your decision making."
The travel expert also pointed out that many travelers stand to benefit amid the outbreak "because the folks in the industry want to encourage people to travel. They're giving you the opportunity to book way out and have a cancellation up to 48 hours prior to your trip in most cases."
See below to view Murphy's appearance on Fox Business in its entirety.
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