Toronto tourism takes hit from SARS

Tourism fallout from the SARS disease continues in Toronto, following a new World Health Organization warning to avoid all but essential travel to the city and a cruise line's decision to ban Toronto-based passengers and crew from boarding its ships.

The United Nations agency urged that travel to Toronto, Canada's largest city and tourism/business center, be avoided because of the severe acute respiratory syndrome infections in the city.

WHO also last week warned against non-essential travel to Beijing — where Chinese authorities have closed schools in the capital to stop the spread of SARS and urged citizens not to travel during a traditional early May holiday period — and to stay away from Shanxi province in China.

The recommendation to postpone travel to the three areas will be in effect for at least three weeks, twice the maximum SARS incubation period, said David Heymann, WHO director of communicable diseases.

Earlier, travelers had been warned to avoid Hong Kong and the southern Chinese province of Guangdong where the disease is believed to have originated.

Los Angeles-based Crystal Cruises, meanwhile, roiled industry waters by announcing it will keep Toronto residents from boarding cruises departing in May.

Crystal and other lines already deny boarding to passengers who recently have been in affected Asian areas.

None of Crystal's competitors had enacted a Toronto ban as of midweek (when the Travel section is printed), although other lines, including Carnival, were considering expanding existing screening procedures to target passengers from Toronto.

The Ontario city is the epicenter of SARS in Canada, which has reported more than 324 probable or suspected cases and 15 deaths as of midweek. An estimated 4,000 people worldwide have been infected by SARS, a pneumonialike disease, and 250 have died, mostly in Asia.

The CDC alert is more bad news for Toronto, a city of 3 million. Last year, according to the Toronto tourism office, 16.3 million visitors spent nearly $2.8 billion there.

At least two medical conferences have canceled or postponed meetings since the SARS crisis began, and many worried tourists are steering clear.

The travel advisory was criticized by Dr. Donald Low, chief microbiologist at Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital.

"This is really inappropriate, and I don't know how they came to that conclusion," Low told Toronto radio station 680 News.

Meanwhile, Crystal Cruises' decision to ban Toronto passengers and crew was made after the WHO designated Toronto "an affected area."

The ban doesn't affect passengers flying through Toronto's airport, though those travelers will be screened before boarding.

"We don't want to eliminate any potential (customers), but we have to consider the risks. This is a very dynamic situation, and we're examining it daily," said Crystal spokeswoman Mimi Weisband.

Sharon Dodd, of the Web site Cruise Critic, said, "From a consumer standpoint, (the ban) definitely sends a drastic message. The cruise industry has been cautionary on SARS, but this takes it to a whole new level."

Toronto travel agent Karen Garney MacNeil is offended by Crystal's policy: "I feel very slighted. I have not seen one person in a mask. I haven't stopped eating in restaurants. Flu season is much worse."