Update zur Lage in Thailand 24.05.2014

The latest on Thailand’s mili­ta­ry coup as of this morning, Satur­day 24th May…
•    Pro­test Sites - Demons­tra­tors have been clea­red from all major sites in and around Bang­kok as of yes­ter­day. The­re have, howe­ver, been small pockets of pro­tes­ters pop­ping up around the city who are voi­cing their disap­pro­val of the mili­ta­ry coup. The­se pro­tests have been peace­ful, small in num­ber and have been over­se­en by the mili­ta­ry sta­tio­ned in the city.
•    Nati­on­wi­de Cur­few (11pm-4am) - The cur­few will now be in effect from 11pm-4am, nati­on­wi­de. Then 25th-28th May to be 12am-4am across 24 pro­vin­ces, most­ly in the north and nor­the­ast of Thai­land. We expect the cur­few to be lifed wit­hin the next 3-4 days, and will keep you updated on that.

For the cur­few, the same app­lies until fur­ther noti­ce - tra­vel­lers are allo­wed to tra­vel free­ly as nee­ded, as are peop­le working night shifts, government workers, tho­se working in the avia­ti­on indus­try, peris­ha­ble food logistics, hos­pi­tals, humai­ta­ri­an orga­ni­sa­ti­ons.

Peop­le who hap­pen to have urgent or important errands during the cur­few hours are advi­sed to seek advice from mili­ta­ry offi­cers near their homes.
•    Traf­fic and Public Trans­port - Traf­fic, as of this morning, is moving free­ly throughout Bang­kok with see­min­gly fewer than usu­al cars on the road.

All roads whe­re demons­tra­ti­ons had been sta­ged and pro­tes­ters had been cam­ped which were tem­pora­ri­ly clo­sed yes­ter­day due to cleanup ope­ra­ti­ons have now all been ope­ned again.

The BTS Sky­train and MRT Sub­way will ope­ra­te as nor­mal during the day, but will stop ser­vices at 9pm for the dura­ti­on of the cur­few. Howe­ver, BTS and MRT urge all tho­se tra­vel­ling with the trans­port net­works not to show up at 9pm in order to catch the last trains, as long queu­es are to be expec­ted.
•    Public Pla­ces and Busi­nes­ses - Are open as nor­mal, howe­ver, most will have adjus­ted ope­ning and clo­sing times in line with cur­few hours, with some busi­nes­ses even opting out of ope­ning altog­e­ther.

Anyo­ne plan­ning any visits any­whe­re is obvious­ly advi­sed to check in advan­ce for any chan­ges to ope­ning and clo­sing times.
•    Air­ports and Trans­fers - Air­ports are open as usu­al and can also con­firm that our air­port trans­fer ser­vices are still ope­ra­ting as nor­mal. The army has been quo­ted as say­ing it will pro­vi­de secu­ri­ty to for­eig­ners, inclu­ding vaca­tio­ners who need to move around, even during cur­few hours.
•    Asia World Sight­see­ing Tours - Are still ope­ra­ting as nor­mal during the day with cli­ents on evening tours being trans­fer­red direc­t­ly to their hotels after­wards wit­hout any issu­es.

We need to advi­se, howe­ver, that some attrac­tions will have opted to clo­se ear­ly to allow their staff time to tra­vel home. On the other hand, some attrac­tions may have deci­ded to cea­se ope­ra­ti­ons until the curew has been lifted.

In Bang­kok for instan­ce, the Calyp­so Caba­ret Show, one of the more popu­lar attrac­tions in Bang­kok, will have 1 show in the evening until fur­ther noti­ce bet­ween 19.30 to 20.30 only. Else­whe­re, the Thai Boxing Sta­di­um will be clo­sed until the cur­few has been lifted.
The­re have been few chan­ges in the situa­ti­on sin­ce the coup was announ­ced, we encou­ra­ge all tra­vel­lers to go about their plan­ned activi­ties as nor­mal as pos­si­ble given the limi­ta­ti­ons in place at the moment. Despi­te the dra­ma­tic appearan­ce on the sur­face of this situa­ti­on it is still very safe here in Thai­land.

Update zu den Protesten in Bangkok

Thailand’s anti-government pro­test move­ment is still occu­py­ing several major inter­sec­tions throughout the city in an attempt to ‘shut­down’ Bang­kok.

Yes­ter­day, Sunday 23rd Febru­a­ry, an inci­dent occur­red at the Raja­pra­song pro­test site that resul­ted in some casu­al­ties and cau­sed inju­ries to others.

The major tou­rism sites, public trans­port and air­ports are open; and all pre-boo­ked excur­si­ons and air­port trans­fers are ope­ra­ting as nor­mal.

While the pro­tests are taking place, we will con­ti­nue to con­tac­ts cli­ents arri­ving into Bang­kok to inform them of the loca­ti­on of the pro­tests, and to stron­gly advi­se them to avo­id the­se are­as along with other lar­ge gathe­rings and demons­tra­ti­ons. They will also be given our hot­line num­ber to call for more infor­ma­ti­on.

Neueste Infos - Stand der Unruhen in Bangkok am 27.01.2014

Thailand´s anti-government pro­test move­ment is still occu­py­ing several major inter­sec­tions throughout the city in an attempt to ‘shut­down’ Bang­kok. The Thai government has impo­sed a 60-day sta­te of emer­gen­cy in Bang­kok and several sur­roun­ding pro­vin­ces.

Despi­te a few inci­dents over the wee­kend, the situa­ti­on remains very much the same as last week.

All pre-boo­ked excur­si­ons and air­port trans­fers are ope­ra­ting as nor­mal.
Tou­rism sites, public trans­port and both air­ports are open and ope­ra­ting as nor­mal.

While the pro­tests are taking place, we will con­ti­nue to con­tac­ts cli­ents arri­ving into Bang­kok to inform them of the loca­ti­on of the pro­tests, and to advi­se them to avo­id the­se are­as along with other lar­ge gathe­rings and demons­tra­ti­ons.

Erklärung des Tourismusministerium der Philippinen

State­ment of the Depart­ment of Tour­sim:
On the after­math of super typho­on Yolan­da (Hai­yan)

[Novem­ber 12, 2013]

The Depart­ment of Tou­rism (DOT) is one with the who­le nati­on in expres­sing its deepest sym­pa­thies to the fami­lies and vic­tims of the Super Typho­on Yolan­da (inter­na­tio­nal code name “Hai­yan”), one of the stron­gest typho­ons that made land­fall in recor­ded histo­ry.

The towns that were severely affec­ted are loca­ted in the pro­vin­ces of Ley­te and Eas­tern Samar, as well as a few pla­ces in the Sou­thern Taga­log Regi­on (par­ti­cu­lar­ly Coron in Pala­wan). The government remains on top of the ongo­ing search, res­cue, retrie­val, and reli­ef ope­ra­ti­ons for the vic­tims of the Super Typho­on Yolan­da.

The DOT is focu­sed on the safe­ty and moni­to­ring of tou­rist move­ment in all affec­ted are­as and has no reports so far of any end­an­ger­ment. The DOT’s objec­tive is to focus on quick reco­very so that tou­rism inco­me is res­to­red at the soo­nest pos­si­ble time. Bul­le­tin announ­ce­ments will be posted via the DOT web­site (www​.tou​rism​.gov​.ph), while DOT over­se­as and regio­nal offices are also on stand­by to assist poten­ti­al tra­vel­lers and tho­se alrea­dy in the coun­try for tra­vel infor­ma­ti­on. Local tour com­pa­nies are in con­stant com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on with their coun­ter­parts abroad to pro­vi­de updates on the situa­ti­on.

The Phil­ip­pi­nes remains a safe and fun desti­na­ti­on for all tou­rists, not­wi­th­stan­ding this unfor­tu­n­a­te inci­dent. The DOT assu­res the tra­vel­ling public that tou­rism estab­lish­ments and tou­rism activi­ties con­ti­nue and remain in ope­ra­ti­on in the other parts of the Phil­ip­pi­nes, which play host to some of the country’s key tou­rist desti­na­ti­ons. The gre­at majo­ri­ty of tou­ris­tic pro­duc­ts are avail­ab­le, whe­ther one is loo­king for a beach vaca­ti­on, his­to­ri­cal trip, gas­tro­no­mic tour, or one of the many other pos­si­ble tra­vel oppor­tu­nities. The coun­try is home to some of the world’s gre­at tou­rist sites and adven­tures with its unpar­al­leled natu­ral won­ders, spec­ta­cu­lar beaches, world-renow­ned heri­ta­ge sites, modern shop­ping com­ple­xes, rich bio­di­ver­si­ty, cul­tu­re, and histo­ry.

The top desti­na­ti­ons in the Visay­as Regi­on con­ti­nue to be acces­si­ble through their respec­tive ports of ent­ry: Bora­cay Island through Kali­bo and Cati­c­lan, Cebu through the Mac­tan Inter­na­tio­nal Air­port, Bohol through the Tag­bilar­an Air­port, Iloi­lo through the Iloi­lo and Baco­lod Silay Air­ports, and Puer­to Prince­sa, Pala­wan through the Puer­to Prince­sa Air­port.

Tou­rism con­ti­nues to be one of the major con­tri­bu­tors to the eco­no­my, play­ing a signi­fi­cant role in rebuil­ding lives and busi­nes­ses in com­mu­nities. We rely on our part­ners, both in the pri­va­te and public sec­tors, to embark on initia­ti­ves that will help us achie­ve nor­mal­cy and sustain the tou­rism growth, par­ti­cu­lar­ly in the affec­ted desti­na­ti­ons.

Fili­pi­nos have always been resi­li­ent and con­ti­nue to be so now. The DOT is opti­mistic and hope­ful that the Phil­ip­pi­nes will over­co­me and move for­ward from the­se dif­fi­cult times

Thailand Cambodia Conflict

The­re was a brief exchan­ge of fire bet­ween Cam­bo­di­an and Thai tro­ops yes­ter­day after­noon, but calm quick­ly retur­ned. The­re was no infor­ma­ti­on on whe­ther the most recent exchan­ge of fire at Preah Vihe­ar in Si Sa Ket pro­vin­ce had cau­sed any casu­al­ties.

The Cam­bo­di­an government has con­fir­med that Thailand’s Defence minis­ter has pul­led out of cease­fire talks that were sche­du­led to be held in Phnom Penh on Wed­nes­day.

Tens of thousands of peop­le have fled figh­t­ing bet­ween Thai­land and Cam­bo­dia over the past week with near­ly 30,000 peop­le living in 33 tem­pora­ry shel­ters in Thai­land.

This con­flict has had no effect on any of our tours ope­ra­ting in Cam­bo­dia or Thai­land as the area is far away from the popu­lar tou­rist desti­na­ti­ons.