Tourists face a moral dilemma
By Stephen Dowling
BBC News
Source http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4137633.stm
Holidaymakers planning
trips to tsunami-affected
countries have had to
grapple with the guilt of
going through with their
journeys amidst so much
destruction and misery.
There has been outrage at
pictures showing tourists
Is it right to holiday in a tsunamiravaged country?
sunning themselves on Thai
resort beaches less than a week after the devastating
damage caused by the Boxing Day tsunamis.
Thousands of holidaymakers have been among more than
124,000 currently known to have been killed from the
tsunami. The World Health Organisation has estimated more
than five million people have been displaced by the calamity.
The question of whether to go ahead with trips to those
countries has been simple for some - the Foreign Office
advised that travel to areas hit by the tsunamis should be
cancelled, but has now lifted its advisory ban on Indonesia,
apart from the province of Aceh.
Tour operators have cancelled trips to the worst affected
areas - the east and south coasts of Sri Lanka and the resort
beaches and islands of western Thailand - on that advice.
Travellers' response
But there are thousands of independent travellers, who book
their own flights and accommodation, who have had to
change their plans themselves.
Many however are responding to calls from the governments
of these tourism-reliant countries.
They want holidaymakers to continue with their visits, even
as airports are thronged with travellers from the worst hit
areas trying to return home.
A spokeswoman from the Association of British Travel Agents
(ABTA) told the BBC News website: "All the communication
we have got from our destinations is that they are extremely
keen to have visitors.
"The effect of the earthquake is going to be massive in an
economic way," she said.
"The governments want the impact to be minimised. We will
be doing everything we can to support that," she added.
Travellers are responding in kind.
Stephanie Sledge-Hardt, a 29-year-old cinematographer from
London, booked a month-long trip to South-East Asia two
weeks ago, flying into Bangkok.
Because she was not planning specifically to visit the resort
areas damaged by the waves, she said her first thought "was
to donate money".
"I want to help, but I can't get into a car and drive down to
the coast where there is all the damage. I thought I would
donate money to people who know how to distribute it
properly," she said.
"I think that in a country that
relies on tourism so much you
should still visit. Obviously, if I
had plans to go down to the
coast I would have changed
them."
I see no reason to
change my plans
Holidaymaker Steve Mann
Another tourist planning a Thailand journey is Dylan Evans, a
tower crane operator in Ireland.
He said he had checked out the bulletin board on the Lonely
Planet travel website every day since the tsunami struck, and
had not found a reason to cancel his trip.
"I didn't have much second thought, but a lot of friends,
family, workmates have been phoning, asking if I'm going or
not, but hardly any of them had anything negative to say
about the trip."
Others echoed this attitude.
Steve Mann, from the United
Kingdom, posted on the Lonely
Planet website: "I never
planned to go to the affected
areas, but will fly into Bangkok
and probably on to Chiang Mai,
then either Laos or Koh Samui.
"As none of my intended
Some of the affected areas will take
destinations are affected I see years to recover
no reason to change my plans, and, as you suggest, the Thai
economy relies on continued tourism.
"If I'd been planning a two-week beach holiday in Phuket, my
answer would likely be rather different, though."
Karen Sargent, 27, a psychologist from London , did say she
had been planning a holiday to Thailand, but was now unsure
whether she would go.
Minute's silence
"My plan was to travel to the west coast (Ko Samui Ko
Phangan and Ko Tao) and then travel up north to Chiang Mai,
areas which were not affected.
"I've decided to wait for a couple of weeks before I decide
whether to go to Thailand in February or not. My instinct tells
me to go however friends and family are all advising me not
to. So as yet I am undecided."
In the worst-affected regions, local economies that thrive on
the beach-bar-loving backpacker hordes, a sense of reality is
already returning.
A British pub on the Thai island of Phuket is holding a New
Year's Eve Party which will be preceded by a minute's silence
for the victims - less than a week after the tsunamis claimed
thousands of lives along the Thai coastline.
"People need a party," said Howard Digby-Jones, who opened
The Green Man pub three years ago.
"People need to go forward. There will be a minute's silence
at midnight before we sing Auld Lang Syne and the lights will
be turned off so people can have a private sniffle," he said.