LAKEWOOD, Colo. (KDVR) — There is no such thing as a slow time in the travel visa business, or at least there wasn’t until the coronavirus hit.
These days, the office at Mile High Visas in Lakewood is eerily quiet.
“Some days you can hear a pin drop,” said Laurel Fulling. She and her husband bought the company last June.
The coronavirus has brought travel to a halt, not only to China, but much of Southeast Asia.
Mile High Visas is now fighting to keep the business afloat. Roughly 3/4 of the company’s clients travel to China.
“It’s a big chunk — a majority of our business,” said Fulling.
“I feel their pain. We’re in the same boat,” said Nick Wang.
Wang is the owner of Boulder-based Real China, one of Mile High Visas’ biggest clients. Real China puts together education trips to Southeast Asia, and Mile High Visas helps obtain visas for about half of their groups.
Wang expected 2020 to be a record year, with 800 students visiting China and Southeast Asia. He says everyone is now canceling their trips.
“Nobody’s going to China. Safety is top of our concerns, so we definitely at this point don’t want to send anyone to China,” Wang said. “I don’t want to wake up in the middle of the night thinking about this, but I can’t help it sometimes.”
Both Fulling and Wang are now just hoping to weather the storm, hoping coronavirus will subside.
“It’s a hard hit, but it’s definitely going to be temporary,” said Fulling.