The continued spread of the new form of coronavirus has forced many people to alter their travel and vacation plans, and travel agencies say they have started to feel the pain.

“We have of course seen significant cancellations to China from customers who are travelling there for business or for a specific purpose, such as visiting family,” said Allison Wallace, spokesperson for Flight Centre.

“For those visiting China and the surrounding area simply for leisure, we’re seeing a lot of people rescheduling their trip, rather than cancelling, or changing their destination all together.”

Wallace said the cancellations have not been as significant for the agency’s key markets such as Mexico and the Caribbean.

Since news broke of cases of coronavirus in Italy, the agency has received calls from concerned travellers with upcoming trips in Europe, she said. Many are choosing to reschedule their planned trips, and those modifications are expected to increase if the situation gets worse, she said.

“We’re working hard to help our clients make informed decisions based on where they want to travel and ensure that we advise getting travel insurance,” said Wallace. Flight Centre’s exclusive insurance provider, Allianz, has a “cancel for any reason” policy that covers travellers in the case of an outbreak at the destination they’re planning to visit, she added.

Madhur Shah, a senior agent at Ashok Travels in downtown Toronto, said most of the agency’s clientele tend to visit South Asian countries such as India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Booking numbers are down, especially for leisure tours and business travel to the Far East of Asia, as many people are cancelling or postponing plans until they see some certainty, he said.

“Nobody wants to travel there and get stuck or have any potential health risks. Our overall business is down compared to last year at this time, as people are more cautious in any plans,” he said.

Shah said the agency is down by about half in inquiries and new bookings it sees at this time of year.

“People are more cautious and are thinking quite heavily before locking in any plans as they don't want to be in a situation where they are away from home for long, especially if you have gone for a week and you end up staying a month due to any quarantine issues or health issues.”

Some schools across the country have moved to cancel Asia trips planned for the upcoming March break. The University of Regina also cancelled all China trips for the next three months.

But Toronto District School Board spokesperson Ryan Bird said things remain on a wait-and-see basis for now.

“While we’re monitoring the situation closely, at this point in time we have not cancelled any trips as a result of coronavirus,” he wrote in an email to the Star.

On Friday the board shared with parents a letter from the city’s medical officer of health Dr. Eileen de Villa, in which she advises that the risk of contracting the virus in Toronto remains low. The letter advises school communities to monitor information from the government of Canada on travel advisories, should they have travel plans for March Break.

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A spokesperson from the Toronto Catholic District School Board said no plans have been cancelled so far, and they’ve only received a few inquiries from parents about the issue.

Health officials in Ontario confirmed a seventh case of COVID-19 on Friday, a man in his 50s now in self-isolation at home after being diagnosed at Sunnybrook hospital. The patient had just returned from a trip in Iran, officials said.

Correction, Feb 28, 2020: This article has been amended from a previous version that stated that India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka did not have any cases of coronavirus. In fact, India has three confirmed cases, Sri Lanka has one, and Pakistan has two, as of today's date.