Should You Travel to Thailand? An Opinion

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Over the past few days as I have read several reports and articles on the protests, shootings and unrest that is unfolding in Thailand I’ve been questioning some of my beliefs as a traveler. It’s awfully sad to read about these kinds of events after you’ve visited those countries where they are happening. It makes the problem real. It’s not just text on paper, and ink in a photo, but a serious event with serious consequences happening to real people – some of them friends we travelers have made along the way.

When the Tourism Authority of Thailand established the Ultimate Thailand Explorers Competition, it was done in part to extinguish some of the bad publicity that hit the country when the Bangkok airport closed last year. Last week’s events potentially could revert the public’s perception of Thailand to where it was a year ago. And that’s unfortunate.

So should you travel to Thailand? The adventurer in me says “sure”, these events aren’t reflective of the whole country. On the other hand, the cautious and safety-conscious side of me says wait for things to settle down. You’re in an unknown country and you don’t know what could happen next. It’s tough to take the latter approach when in your heart of hearts, you want to promote tourism to Thailand, you want to believe that travel shouldn’t be restricted. What do you do?

A fellow adventurer, Gary Arndt from Everything Everywhere, provided a great perspective in his blog on Tuesday, which you should read first here. He’s Pro-Thailand Travel. Consider this from Gary who addresses the shootings that happened over the weekend,

“Thailand is a big country. What happened here was a tragedy, but it occurred only on a few streets in one part of one city on one evening…Saying you shouldn’t visit any part of Thailand based on the events of last Saturday is like saying you shouldn’t visit California if there is a school shooting in Colorado.”

Over here in the United States our “World News” section is limited to a 300-word article that provides an oftentimes sensationalized story of one event. And based on that one event, we’re making a judgement about the entire country. Right now, there are people celebrating the Songkran Festival (Thai New Year) all throughout the country. There are people going about their daily lives: working, hanging out with friends and relaxing at home. But those stories never make the news. Gary pointed out what we instinctually know as travelers, but what many people don’t understand. Thank you.

So should you travel to Thailand? Do your homework and make the decision that’s best for you. The more you travel the more you’ll start to see that the world as depicted in the papers and on the televisions is vastly different than how it is in-person.

But you knew that right? Still hesitant? Sometimes all it takes is to go out and explore it for yourself (and using your common sense). That’s what adventures are all about.

What do you think? Would you travel to Thailand right now? Leave a comment with your thoughts.

I’ll see you out there…!

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