Seeing as the world seems to be in panic over swine flu, I thought I had better make some sort of comment on it! News coming out of the international media seems to be that British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have started screening people for symptoms of swine flu and then refusing to allow them to board if they look like they have the virus. As a fairly frequent flier, I find it incredible that the airlines are going to so much trouble and spending time to try and spot people who have swine flu even though the vast majority people who have it, only have mild symptoms and recover within days. From what I have read, it seems to be nicer than the normal flu! But I suppose on the other hand, it is quite unfair on the other passengers, if one passenger on a flight has swine flu and they end up catching it. In order to relieve fear, ABTA has released a statement in which they say that fear of swine flu should not stop people going on holiday, but that also when they go on holiday they should ensure that they have adequate insurance. This is sensible advice, especially when in this financial climate, many economies are relying heavily on tourism. In Greece, the Tourist Development Minister Kostas Markopoulos has called for an end to exaggerated reports of swine flu in the country. He said that “The new flu has not damaged tourism yet, though continuing exaggerations would place Greece in the group of countries with high problem and this would have serious impacts on the tourist industry“. So what seems to be the main message is for people to continue travelling and going on holiday!