Estonians who are still in Dubai say life in the big city goes on, that restaurants are open and people are out on the streets.

"Over the past couple of days, it has become clear that the air defense system here works quite well. Looking at those who have tried to flee from here, thinking that somewhere else is better, I don't think the grass is much greener anywhere else at the moment," said Gert Köster, an Estonian citizen currently in Dubai.

For Köster and others like him, there is no clear information about when it will be possible to leave the country. The flight that was supposed to depart on Wednesday has now been rescheduled for March 17, though it still remains unknown whether planes will resume flying by then.

"Everything is up in the air in the sense that everything depends on something else. Flight tickets, accommodation, cars, work things... It's all like that, so basically, it's a long period of time in which to plan things for a day at a time," said Köster.

According to the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, some Estonians have taken the initiative to travel from Dubai to Oman, where air traffic is still operating. However, the ministry is advising people to stay where they are and not change their place of accommodation.

The events in the Middle East are also having an impact on air traffic elsewhere. An Estonian family vacationing in Sri Lanka, for instance, would usually have had to stop over in Dubai on their way home. However, those flights have now been canceled and postponed indefinitely.

"We realize that this is a hopeless situation and have started looking for a new way home ourselves. We are hoping to fly via New Delhi, then on to Milan and from there to Stockholm," said Piret Rõõmussaar, an Estonian in Sri Lanka.

Estonian travel agencies are also facing an unprecedented number of calls from customers.

The last flights of the season from Estonia to the United Arab Emirates have now been canceled, though travel agents also have to communicate with those who are already stranded in countries affected by the events. Callers have also expressed fears about other destinations, mainly Egypt.

"In the case of Egypt, there are currently some tough questions and plenty of doubts," said Olev Riisberg, marketing manager at travel agency Novatours.

However, there have been no reports that the events have had a direct impact in Egypt, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not actually changed anything in terms of its threat assessment, he explained.

As the events in the Middle East have coincided with the Estonian school holidays, there have been significantly more insurance claims made in Estonia than in the other two Baltic countries.

"Trips have begun to end and people have started coming back to Estonia, so we have had significantly more claims than Latvia and Lithuania. The fact that the school holidays coincided with this period has had a huge impact," said Kairit Luht, travel insurance product manager at If Insurance.

Travel insurance coverage is typically only valid if the affected trip began before the outbreak of hostilities.

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