Coronavirus and travel to Philippines: Melbourne man gets entire plane, island paradise to himself

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Coronavirus and travel to Philippines: Melbourne man gets entire plane, island paradise to himself

By Zach Hope
Updated
Rory Lovelock had almost the whole plane and beach to himself on a trip to the Philippines.

Rory Lovelock had almost the whole plane and beach to himself on a trip to the Philippines.Credit: Rory Lovelock

Rory Lovelock likes to be the last to board the plane. If you see a row of spare seats, the Melbourne concreter says, "sometimes you can nab it for yourself".

But when he employed his usual strategy on a recent flight from Cebu to Boracay - Philippine beach hotspots usually busy with Western tourists - he found he could have just about any row he desired.

Bar a handful of passengers and crew, the plane was empty. Coronavirus empty.

"I had the whole plane, virtually. I thought 'cool'," Mr Lovelock said on Wednesday from a similarly deserted ferry at Boracay.

This is despite only three confirmed cases and one death in the Philippines since the crisis began. For perspective, Australia had 23 confirmed cases as of Tuesday.

"I guess people are overreacting," he said. "They just associate Asia with the whole thing, even though it's mainly one province [in China]."

Of the more than 80,000 confirmed cases worldwide, fewer than 3000 have been outside China. South Korea, Japan and Italy, however, have been reporting increasing rates of infections. Greece, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Iraq and Oman have also recorded their first cases this week.

CNBC reported last week that airlines had cancelled more than 200,000 flights, mostly within China, to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Tourists the world over, unsure of how far the virus will spread or when it will be contained, are reconsidering or cancelling planned holidays.

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Shares for online travel company Webjet have subsequently plunged nearly 20 per cent in the week leading up to Wednesday, while Qantas lost nearly 10 per cent.

Even cruises to Pacific nations that are yet to record a single coronavirus infection - and keen to keep it that way - are now in doubt. Some ports in New Caledonia and Tonga are closed to cruise ships, according to cruisecritic.com.au, along with much larger ports closer to mainland China such as Hong Kong and South Korea.

But some people are finding a silver lining. In Mr Lovelock's case it was the cheap flights, the Westerner-free Boracay beach and the discounted accommodation he scored in Manila.

"It's like going on holiday here 10 or 20 years ago," he said.

On the plane to Boracay, a flight attendant asked each passenger to fill out a form with their details so they could be contacted in case it turned out someone on board was infected - just to be safe.

"The funny part was that the hostess only had one pen so we all passed it around on the plane - which would be a really good way to make sure everyone got the virus," he said.

"At the airport, the immigration officer told me to remove my hat. Then she reached under her counter and pulled out a gun and pointed it at my forehead. It made me jump. Luckily, it was just to measure my body temperature.

"I guess she has become a quick-draw from doing it day in and day out."

See also: US passenger who had plane to himself didn't tell the full truth

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