They'D Rather Be in Philadelphia

By Frank Trippett

Although Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait failed to keep George Bush away from Kennebunkport, prospects of war in the Persian Gulf are changing many other vacation plans. The crisis has sent the world travel industry into a spin. Vacationers and commercial travelers are hastily scrapping plans to visit not only the affected Arab states but also the entire Middle East and eastern Mediterranean. Major airlines are improvising detours for regularly scheduled flights, and airlines and airports have tightened security in anticipation of a possible rise in terrorism.

Debbie Grodd, 24, and Stanley Lee, 28, of Stamford, Conn., reacted to the hostilities by junking plans for an Aegean honeymoon. "I know chances were slim that something would happen," said Grodd. "But Greece is close to Turkey, and Turkey is next door to Iraq. The last thing we needed was to wonder about it at all." Last week the Lees spent their honeymoon on the California coast.

Similar switches have been making life hectic for travel agencies everywhere. Olson-Travelworld Ltd., a large Los Angeles touring company, reports that cancellation rates for tours to Egypt and Israel have risen to 20%, while those for tours to Turkey have risen to 10%. Big British tour operators like Thomson Holidays report the same traveler reluctance: Thomson bookings to Israel, for example, are down 50% from the same period last year. British sun seekers who traditionally flock to beaches in Cyprus or Turkey have also begun shopping around for other roosts. French-owned Club Mediterranee reports that future bookings for villages in Turkey, Egypt and Israel have fallen significantly. So concerned is the Israeli government that the Tourism Ministry recently injected an additional $235,000 into a $940,000 British advertising campaign.

Airlines are proving just as cautious as individuals. Western airline flights to Baghdad and Kuwait City have been canceled as part of the international embargo against Iraq. Some carriers have gone further. Jet Tours, a major holiday carrier 70% owned by Air France, has simply shut down all its tours to Syria, Jordan and Yemen. Some regular commercial carriers are making costly detours around the entire Middle East region. KLM, for example, is rerouting long-haul flights that normally land in Dubai or Bahrain, cutting its weekly service to the region by more than half. Pan Am has rerouted its flights from Frankfurt to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia so that they fly farther from Iraqi airspace. Air France has canceled a stopover in the gulf emirate of Bahrain in favor of one in Djibouti, in northeastern Africa.

Airlines are understandably reluctant to discuss how the crisis has affected security arrangements. Typically, a Pan Am spokesman says only that security procedures at Pan Am have been "enhanced." At London's Heathrow Airport, travelers report that the beef-up can add 20 minutes to the already lengthy process of clearing security, while at New York City's Kennedy International Airport, extra police are on duty. At Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport, 80 armed security police have been added to regular details, and an Interior Ministry spokesman says that "we are being vigilant toward all sensitive flights and passengers."

Despite all the soothing assertions, the threatening international climate, combined with a weak dollar, is going to keep many Americans closer to home and closer to the ground. That is good news for Tom Domenico, senior executive vice president of New Jersey-based Domenico Tours, one of the U.S.'s largest operators of escorted motor-coach tours. His business has jumped 8% since the Iraqi invasion. In fact, business is so healthy that even though fuel costs have climbed 20% as a result of the crisis, Domenico is planning no increase in fares.

With reporting by Nancy Seufert/London and Lisa Towle/New York