Several Lithuanian tour operators are suspending trips to China after the Foreign Ministry on Monday advised against all travel to the country until the spread of the coronavirus has been contained.
Žydrė Gavelienė, the president of the Lithuanian Chamber of Tourism, says that are no organised charter flights from Lithuania to China, noting that the central Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, is a very unlikely destination for Lithuanian tourists.
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"A number of options are available for other travelers who have booked travel packages if they are worried and want to change the destination," Gavelienė told BNS on Monday. "Tour operators offer to change destinations or postpone trips to later dates."
TravelPlanet, a Lithuanian tour operator, has trips to China planned for April and October, but is not suspending them, at least for now.
Other Lithuanian travel agencies, including Grūda and West Express also organise group trips to China.
According to Gavelienė, the flow of travelers from Asia to Europe is low at this time of the year, because most of them prefer to travel within Asia during the Chinese New Year and go to Europe in the summer.
Some 487 Chinese tourists visited Lithuania in January 2019, compared with the monthly figure of 2,500 to 3,000 between May and September, based on official statistics.
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