While the situation must be taken seriously, during our 30 years in tourism, we’ve dealt with similar situations – Sars, Zika, Ebola. In our experience, the panic usually subsides once the initial fear dissipates. We hope this is the case this time too.

We still firmly believe travel is incredibly safe. As pioneers of community tourism, we believe travel can be the greatest form of wealth distribution the world has seen. As much as we have a commitment to our travellers, we also have a commitment to the communities that tourism benefits.

This situation has the potential to be damaging for those communities. We hope agents will encourage clients to keep travelling, even if that means changing destinations or postponing plans.

I’d also like to take this opportunity to urge agents to rise up and be the shining light on inclusivity in terms of the racism, xenophobia and division being reflected in reactions to, and coverage of, coronavirus. As an Asian myself, I feel this. Recent reports of racism towards Asians as a result of this outbreak are extremely unfortunate; ignorance is counterproductive to public health and wellness.

It’s important to remember we are stronger together. We are living in dangerous times, where people are divided and looking for division. We must come together as a global community. Coronavirus is an issue for humanity — not individual races or people.