Walk with me around some of the nightmarkets and hot night spots of Siem Reap as I assess the serious drop in tourism as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. Unfortunately this is severely impacting tourism in the town that's the gateway to Angkor Wat, much due to the decrease in Chinese traveling. There has only been one official report of a man that tested positive for the virus who was visiting Sihanoukville from Wuhan. He has since been hospitalized and is in stable condition. The 3 family members that were traveling with him have shown no signs of the virus and it appears noone contracted it that came in contact with him. At this time there are no travel advisories recommending their citizens not travel to anywhere in Southeast Asia due to the coronavirus. So far most Western countries have recommended their citizens avoid travel to China. Honestly in my opinion as long as the virus continues to be contained there should be no issues with regular travel to Southeast Asia, in fact it could be a good time to travel. With low occupancy rates and fewer crowds at major sites it would be like traveling in the low season without rain. In the broadcast I mentioned I was traveling to Seoul 5 years ago during a SARS outbreak but it was actually MERS. This was a personal decision and I was comfortable traveling under those conditions. The incidents were low enough that I knew I wouldn't be anxious or worried. The hotel rates were extremely low and all major sites in the month of July were free so as to encourage tourism. Again, I don't recommend anyone do this who feels anxious or would worry but I also believe for countries in Southeast Asia the chance of you actually coming in contact with someone that has the virus let alone contracting it would be next to zero. But this again is a decision you must be comfortable with. Thanks again for listening!
Help others discover the podcast by writing a review in the iTunes Store:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/far-east-travels-podcast/id1079513943
Support the podcast with a monthly pledge:https://www.patreon.com/FarEastTravels