Foreign Tourists "Stuck" in Cambodia (Updated)

[CEOCambodiaNews]

Cambodia News (Phnom Penh): On March 24, 2020, at 7:10 am, 14 German tourists went to the German Embassy in Phnom Penh asking for help to send their tour group back home. The police and the German embassy worker went to the scene and questioned the group.

The German tourists said they were in a group of 42 people(22 women), who came to Cambodia as tourists on March 8, 2020, through Phnom Penh International Airport. They traveled around the country and visited Phnom Penh, Battambang, Siem Reap, Kampot, and Mondulkiri, staying at Billibong Hotel, Ok guesthouse, and La Vena boutique.

However, now their trip is over, the German tourists can not get home because their flights are canceled, and the authorities have not yet found a solution to the problem.

[chiltern]

Add tham to the list of thousands of outher people, myself included.

[zojomonde]

arrived in cambodia on march 8th, now asking to be helped to go back? no no fucking no, darwinism needs to be obeyed

[King Keil]

Two weeks ago they were still holding soccer matches here with 50000 spectators (Leipzig) so maybe they got the wrong signals from politics. Scientists were already warning.

[Anchor Moy]

arrived in cambodia on march 8th, now asking to be helped to go back? no no fucking no, darwinism needs to be obeyed

Well, to be fair, they probably booked a return ticket with a German tour agency that can't get them home now that the Asian flights and some airports have shut down. I'm sure they all have return tickets but can't fly out. After that, you can argue whether it is the fault of the tourists or whether the agency should have got them out of Cambodia earlier.
The international flight situation between Asia and Europe is a total mess right now and the Singapore airport shutdown was issued with very little warning, (like the same day), so maybe that's how they got "stuck". There are people in the same situation all over the world.

[Kammekor]

18 days ago it was a different world, so that’s in their favor.

On the other hand, the outlines of the ‘new’ world have become pretty clear 10-12 days ago. Apparently they failed to notice that.

Maybe Germany will bail them out. But bailing out all of those ignorant Germans all around the world will be a major pain in the @ss.

[Phnom Poon]

if it was a tour group, of course it is the organizer's responsibility to manage risk
but even an every-tour-operator-for-themselves attitude shows a civilization deficit

[j57]

People wait all year to travel in the colder months.
Cambodia benefited from their touring most of the country. What a shame this has happened.
I am anxious to see how wealthy countries help extract their citizens or just abandon them.
Of course they all had return tickets..
But, I suspect they could not be changed without a stiff penalty..
I have had to eat return tickets because plans changed and the penalty to change my ticket was more than a one way back.
I bet they could not of left 10 days ago and now find themselves stuck.
I saw a new fake news story claiming the Italian Wuhan chinese virus is a stronger strain and it is wrecking havoc in Thailand.
No mention of the thousands of Wuhan citizens that went to live in Italy before the city was closed..who brought the virus to Italy to begin with.
The blame game is mutating from china to barangs..

[Phnom Poon]

it needs to be quite clear that china is responsible for this virus

and in fact many, even most of these outbreaks, and seasonal flu's
including, quite likely, seasonal flu's ancestor, the 1917-21 pandemic

[yongchi]

The problem with tours is often that penalties for cancellations are stiff and return flights are on a fixed date.
Many people save for this yearly holiday...

And as mentioned before, the operator calls the shots. People rely on their expertise.
Yes, you could say, "I am done, I am leaving," and buy your own ticket home.

A friend of mine tried to cancel a cruise two weeks ago because it was obvious to her that cruises had to be avoided.

The operator wanted a cancellation fee of 60% of the cruise price! Two f***ing weeks ago!

I told my friend not to cancel. "Just don't go." "The government will prohibit cruises and the operator will have to refund everything."
That is exactly what happened. Hopefully their check doesn't bounce.