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New guidebook to THAILAND 8-Jul-2004 At 7:02:01 PM Damietta

Message

Dalai:
>Damien,
>
>do you feel that noting personal security issues is the resposibility
>of guide book writers?

>I would have thought as Chris had said earlier, that it's the role of
>each travellers own country equivilent to our Department of Foreign Affairs
>and Trade to issue travel warnings and recommendations.

Dalai,

There are a couple of things that are interesting here:
* It's a climbing guidebook for climbing - but some of the best guidebooks that have stood the test of time are 'holistic' with loads of useful (some might consider extraneous when you're lugging the guidebook up Humanality in your chalkbag) information. This point is most pertinent to a Thailand climbing giudebook - which, correct me if I'm wrong, would be aimed primarily at tourist climbers for whom the climbing trip involves, not only climbing, but....boat trips, bus rides, touts, locating bungalows, bargaining/bartering, finding good value and safe eats and personal security. But by the same token, there is the risk that the content of the guidebook may become spread too thin and stray into territory that may be best covered in Lonely Planet and, of course, the relevant authorities.
* Scaremongering only serves to hurt the local economy and security warnings in a guidebook might convince people to stay away from that area - perhaps unecessarily - and that definitely would not be my aim
* The specific nature of the security warnings (for example DFAT - but they are next to useless except in the broad) is volatile and anything in the print medium may become redundant at any point in future
* I think that some coverage of the security situation in that guidebook could be useful, but the technicalities of doing so could be very problematic beyond referring people to their relevant DFAT (etc) websites and the like, as you and Chris point out. Following from that I was interested to know if and how it had been handled