Omicron casts shadow on foreign travel plans

Ranchi: The detection of the Omicron variant of coronavirus is once again threatening to cast a shadow over travel plans for many overseas Jharkhand residents, who couldn’t return home in the last two years, as the clamour for suspension of international flights is slowly gaining traction in the country.
Jamshedpur-based Joydeep Dubey (38), who currently works in Melbourne in Australia, is stressed over his plan to visit his hometown early next year for his cousin’s marriage.Owing to international travel curbs and extended border lockdowns in Australia, he, his wife and two kids couldn’t visit their parents since the past two years.
With Australia now announcing to defer its plan to reopen its border from December 1, Dubey is in a Catch-22 situation — whether to book tickets or not for his scheduled visit in February end next year. “We were excited to return home but the sudden turn of events in the last few days has now making us think again,” he said over a Whatsapp call.
Ranchi-based businessman Dhiraj Kumar and his family had planned a weeklong trip to the Maldives for the New Year but are reconsidering. “Just when the situation seems to be improving, the virus threat is again looming large. While our travel agent has advised us to stay put, we fear on losing out on money on cancellation in the event of a further spike in cases,” he said.
Shailesh Agarwal, chairman of tourism sub-committee of Federation of Jharkhand Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FJCCI) and proprietor of Drishti Travels, said, “In recent times, there has been a major boom in travel and tourism as people from the state are going in hordes to places like the Maldives, Malaysia among others. But we are again flooded with calls mostly from those who booked their international tours till March next year, asking about cancellations. We have bookings of 300 persons in recent weeks for international destinations. We have now stopped any further bookings post March till the situation becomes clear.”