Have been thinking about this since my recent Cambodia trip and this LP title just leapt out at me. Think travel writing (including all of mine) needs to do a far better job of informing readers of the issues at play. Travelling in an uninformed bubble is not responsible travel. https://twitter.com/lonelyplanet/status/1198798538605510657

Not quite sure how to approach, as appending a par to every listing along the lines of “Cambodia is run by a despot, is rife with corruption, has decimated independent media & imprisons/murders political & environmental opponents” doesn’t feel right either. Mulling this over.

I don’t think the “I’m not interested in domestic politics, I just want beer and a palm tree” really washes anymore (if it ever did). Not suggesting inbounds should need write a PhD on domestic politics, but as travel writers, we’re in a position to dripfeed info to visitors.

Or add a line under every Thai beach seafood bbq listing with a link to that AP story about endemic slavery in the Thai fishing industry... Dunno.

Not meaning to pick on Cambodia, plenty of concerning issues for all countries in SEA. Yes, Singapore too!

And this get at a nationwide level. Drill down and it gets complicated fast. How many travel writing pieces talk about what happened in the creation of “Dreamland” on Bali when writing up the properties there for eg. Gets messy fast.

Or, does CPB still own Kempinski? If so should you append some kinda LM-friendly footnote to a review of any of those reviews? Lol