Foreign Nationals Warned Not To Visit Thailand: Flood Crisis

[scorecard]

Foreign Embassy's will only issue advice about travel and thats to cover their own ass.

It wont deter return visitors as they know where they are going and organise appropriately, possibly put off those planning to come tho seriously doubt it.

but......

I was under the impression that when there was a travel warning for countries from an embassy, then the travel insurance companies would refuse to insure travellers.

This does stop people from travelling.

Contrary to the sensational headline, there is no advisory against travel to Thailand, just a warning to avoid flooded areas. There is no question that insurance companies will refuse to insure travellers heading for Thailand.

Are you 100% sure about that? Did you read the fine print before you posted?

[scorecard]

Tourism is a big business and other countries will try to scare tourist to come here so they may go there.

And local operators will say there is no problem, regardless of the truth.

[bangkockney]

Nonsense. You do know that Thailand has permanent travel advisory warnings, and has done for donkey's years?

Why all the hand wringing? The travel advisories are responsible statements: Please stay away from the flood stricken areas. That's all they are saying. None of the government advisories redflags Thailand. If that were the case, the direct flights to Phuket from Taiwan, Australia, China etc. would be halted.

Travel advisories mean your travel insurance is invalid. This is the issue. This is the problem. If you travel to a country while there is a travel advisory your insurance company can and likely will refuse to cover you whether your injury is related at all to the cause of the travel advisory or not.THIS is what scares off travelers.

No, historically airlines don't cancel flights due to travel advisories.

[rametindallas]

IMO most people make holiday plans well in advance of arrival and are willing to modify their plans rather than cancel them. There are many lovely places in Thailand to visit that aren't in the least affected by this catastrophe. I bought my ticket and reserved room five plus months ago and will avoid being a nuisance in the flooded areas and will donate funds to help out the victims. I will wait and see the numbers afterward before I judge the veracity of anyone, including the Minister of Tourism. Whether he is lying or not will not change anything to do with tourist coming or not. Thailand is going to need all the tourist dollars it can get just to recover from this disaster so I have nearly convinced a wealthy, retired friend to come for an extended stay as well. I wish this government success because the Thai people need the government to succeed.

[AndyDandy]

Well, I though a lot of the backpacker types wanted adventure travel ....

[Arkady]

Never mind the travel advisories. The foreign embassies are, as usual, using incorrect data based on their experiences in their own countries where things happen quite differently. The Minister of Tourism has it all under control and has given assurances that there will be no impact on tourism arrivals due to the floods whatsoever. His elder brother, who is currently serving a five year ban from politics due to electoral fraud, has also given an assurance that he didn't order the Irrigation Department to open the sluice gates on another province to protect his home province of Suphan Buri from severe flooding. Journalists were ordered by him to report this assurance correctly and later complained they were being intimidated. These two guys are completely credible and inspire confidence that the government and its banned mentors have the situation perfectly under control and that there will be no economic fall out from the floods.

[EvilPenevil]

There's some confusion over terminology in this thread. Each country has its own system of warning or alerting its citizens to risks and dangers while traveling abroad. There is no internationally accepted standard for such warnings and the consequences in terms of travel insurance also vary from country to country and company to company.

The U.S. State Department issues both travel warnings and travel alerts, plus local embassies may issue emergency messages. According to the State Dept.'s Web site:

"Travel Warnings are issued when long-term, protracted conditions that make a country dangerous or unstable lead the State Department to recommend that Americans avoid or consider the risk of travel to that country. A Travel Warning is also issued when the U.S. Government's ability to assist American citizens is constrained due to the closure of an embassy or consulate or because of a drawdown of its staff."

A Travel Alert cover's short-term risks:

"Travel Alerts are issued to disseminate information about short-term conditions, either transnational or within a particular country, that pose significant risks to the security of U.S. citizens. Natural disasters, terrorist attacks, coups, anniversaries of terrorist events, election-related demonstrations or violence, and high-profile events such as international conferences or regional sports events are examples of conditions that might generate a Travel Alert. "

Neither a Travel Warning nor a Travel Alert has been issued about the flooding in Thailand. Instead, the embassy has issued an emergency message containing the advice to "defer travel to or through flood impacted areas. "

It's true that in most cases travel insurance won't apply if a full-blown Travel Warning has been issued about all travel to a specific country. But you need to check with your insurance provider. Some policies specifically refer to government travel warnings, others don't. Almost no policy covers war, riots, civil disorder, etc., whether or not a travel warning has been issued.

Evil

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