Thailand
Cambodia: Economic factors keeping foreign travellers stranded
Foreigners have continued to be left stranded in Cambodia because many are unable to receive refunds on cancelled flights, are not eligible for embassy loans and have no employment opportunities to fund expensive flights home. According to the Foreigner Present in Cambodia System, 114,367 foreigners remain in the Kingdom.
In response, social media groups are providing financial advice on the best routes to return home.
Nick Cross from England said he set up a group after he had five flight cancellations with five different airlines in late March and early April.
“In the end, I managed to get out on my 6th attempt. I felt the pain of many failed attempts and still to this day haven’t recovered the funds from those flights. Our group is here to support people by reducing stress and anxiety when making decisions on booking flights,” he said.
In April special flights were organised by embassies. However, reports from those still stranded are that some of these flight were too expensive for low budget travellers, costing more than $1,500.
Simply not able to afford the flight many waited in the hope that prices would come down. However, this has not been the case.
Furthermore, many flights currently advertised on flight booking websites are offering routes that are no longer available.
This confusion has left many having to pay for new flights even though they haven’t received money back from their original flight. With some reporting it is taking up to 10 weeks to be refunded.
Another reason identified is the limited routes available because many countries have closed borders and are not allowing travellers to transit through their airports.
Airports such as Kuala Lumpur were allowing people to fly in but then it wasn’t a possibility to transit from one terminal to another from which most international flights would depart. Since then it was announced that from Aug 1 all flights to and from Malaysia have been stopped because of rising COVID-19 cases. Thailand is another country to stop tourists using its airports for transit and borders are also closed with Vietnam, as countries keep pushing back the dates for re-opening because of new outbreaks of COVID-19.
The only reliable airports to stay available for transit out of Cambodia and to other destinations seem to be China and South Korea. Some countries such as France and Germany have had repatriation flights sent to collect their citizens while others have offered loans to pay for expensive flights and to make sure that people have enough money to survive. One of those on the list is the UK, but reports from British citizens say it is near impossible to get the loan and that the British embassy has been no help whatsoever.
Peter Cowell from England said: “I have been stuck here now for months. I first tried to call the embassy but I couldn’t get through to anybody. I then chose to go to the embassy myself and was just handed a flyer with some information on it that was no help. I feel as though my country has let me down. I just want to get home to my family and my building company,” he added.
Source: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50750937/economic-factors-keeping-foreign-travellers-stranded/