Unfortunately, terrorism happens. This week I'll be looking at the effect terrorism has on tourism and how the media over-inflates and downplays the events. I picked Thailand to focus on since it has had both peaceful and turbulent times over the past few years.
Always a favorite vacation spot, political riots broke out in Thailand bringing forth a hail of panic from many countries chief among them, Britain. The UK went so far as to tell their citizens in April of 2010 to cease all non-essential travel. The travel organization Abta announced that in lieu of the UK's proclamation that travelers going to Thailand anyways would not be covered by travelers insurance.
A Telegraph article (A UK newspaper) said that the Foreign Office described the situation as “volatile and [the FO] recommends that British nationals in Thailand or planning to travel to the country check the travel advice on the embassy website regularly for details for further developments”
However, not everyone considers this situation as dangerous as the Brittish government does. CEO of travel site TravelFish, Stuart McDonald said the following in an interview with a UK based newspaper about the country’s reaction to the protests.
““It beggars belief that the (UK’s) FCO truly believes a blanket ban on ‘non-essential’ travel to Thailand is warranted. The vast majority of the country remains utterly unaffected by the disquiet in Bangkok. The move is completely irresponsible and actively damages both the UK’s outbound and Thailand’s inbound tourism industries. It may well also invalidate the travel insurance of tourists who are already there and travelling responsibly to safe places. The situation remains volatile, but as it stands this is an absolute over-reaction by the FCO.”
In addition a Lonely Planet discussion board showed many travelers didn’t think the situation was as dangerous as the media was making it out to be. Many users argued that if you stayed away from areas known for protest then you would be perfectly safe…and able to rake in on the excellent travel deals Thai hotels were offering.
Thailand tried to tell their side of the story in an interview with tradearabia.com. The director of tourism authority of Thailand, Pramoth Supyen, said visitors had nothing to fear due to “'Thainess' or the Thai way of life which is always warm and welcoming to visitors. Within Thailand there can sometimes be domestic disputes that over escalate and when they do they are always regrettable, but they are never directed at international guests intentionally by either side.” He also mentioned the initiative taken by the Thai government offering travelers insurance up to $10,000, in the absence of insurance offered by typical travel agencies.
All in all the media has blown up this controversy portraying Thailand as a country in turmoil dangerous to natives and foreigners alike. The situation is nowhere near this dire and as a result from the media’s fearmongering the Thai economy has been hit hard in its tourism sector. While countries do need to warn their citizens of possible hazards abroad, in my opinion the UK went completely overboard and directly harmed tourism when it was not necessary. Instances like this happen all the time, take the swine flue in Mexico, it is up to us to carefully analyze the situation and not depend entirely on the media. Who knows what they’ll be saying?
While it is a nation's duty to protect its citizens, I would be very pissed if I were Thailand. As much as one might claim that Thailand is just money-hungry and wants the economic benefits brought about by tourism, Thailand is surely well aware of the much greater negative impacts falsely assuring safety would have on their tourism industry and long-term economy…
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