Asia remains a risk for tourists
Authorities in the Southeast Asian nation of Laos are clamping down on dangerous and illegal activities in the country’s popular tourist area Vang Vieng in order to promote it as a safe destination for travellers, after a number of deaths relating to alcohol and watersports. At least six tourists have died in Vang Vieng since January, while over 20 tourist deaths were reported in 2011, and the majority have been attributed to drownings and head injuries involving alcohol. One of the most common water activities, known as ‘tubing’, involves floating down the river while consuming large quantities of alcohol. Seven bars along the Xong river, where a lot of ‘tubing’ takes place, have been closed for ‘serving tourists alcoholic drinks laced with opium and hallucinogenic mushrooms’.
Authorities in the Southeast Asian nation of Laos are clamping down on dangerous and illegal activities in the country’s popular tourist area Vang Vieng in order to promote it as a safe destination for travellers, after a number of deaths relating to alcohol and watersports. At least six tourists have died in Vang Vieng since January, while over 20 tourist deaths were reported in 2011, and the majority have been attributed to drownings and head injuries involving alcohol. One of the most common water activities, known as ‘tubing’, involves floating down the river while consuming large quantities of alcohol. Seven bars along the Xong river, where a lot of ‘tubing’ takes place, have been closed for ‘serving tourists alcoholic drinks laced with opium and hallucinogenic mushrooms’.
Meanwhile, information released by Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has revealed that 39 Australians died on the island of Bali in 2011-2012 – an average of one every nine days. A further 93 had to seek consular help after being hospitalised, while 36 were arrested, 18 were imprisoned and eight needed help after being the victims of assault. Predictably, consular officials have cited drugs and alcohol as primary causes of many of the incidents, as well as ‘inexperience, unfamiliar road and traffic conditions’. Traffic accidents are apparently the biggest cause of death – after natural causes or those relating to pre-existing conditions – while tourists were reminded by DFAT that travel insurance often does not cover accidents involving scooters (and even when scooters are covered, the insurance will be invalidated if the driver does not hold a valid motorcycle license).
For more detailed coverage of the potential dangers facing tourists in Asia, please see the latest issue of ITIJ, which will be online in the first week of September.