Public Holidays 2009

Public Holiday Date

New Year's Day: January 1, 2009
Good Friday: April 10, 2009
Easter Monday: April 13, 2009
May Day Holiday: May 4, 2009
Memorial Day/Spring Bank Holiday: Monday, May 25, 2009
Summer Bank Holiday: Monday, August 31, 2009
Christmas Day: December 25, 2009
Boxing Day: December 28, 2009
New Year’s Day: January 1, 2010

Swine Flu Dilemma - To Travel or Not to Travel?

Fearing that their vacations could comprise of surf, sand and swine flu, potential travelers are turning to health organizations for guidance on whether to pack their bags or stay home. Contradictory advice from various sectors doesn't seem to make it any easier to decide whether to fly or not to fly.

The European Union's health commissioner Androulla Vassiliou told reporters in Luxembourg that she was "not worried at this stage" about a pandemic sweeping across Europe, but she urged travelers to avoid Mexico and the United States anyway. That prompted a swift rebuke from Richard Besser, the acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, who rejected her advisory as "quite premature."

On the other side, the CDC website "recommends that U.S. travelers avoid all nonessential travel to Mexico." The World Health Organization, is calling on nations to keep their borders open and to avoid restricting international travel, and emphasizes that a pandemic is not inevitable. Despite the plea, Argentina and Cuba have suspended all flights from Mexico, and tour operators and airlines across the globe — including some based in Canada, Germany and the U.K. — have canceled flights and holiday packages to sunshine destinations like Cancún and Cozumel.

Geoffrey Lipman, assistant secretary-general of the United Nations World Tourism Organization, says "We know from the past that restrictions don't actually serve to hold back the spread of this kind of virus. It's already out there around the world in different places."