Would you book for Thailand?

Voyager2002

A number of people have been killed in fighting between Thailand and Cambodia. Since a full-scale war seems to be possible, would you make a booking for Thailand now? If you already have plans to go there, would you cancel or change your plans?

eskbanker

The UK government advice would seem a reasonable place to start, especially when travel insurers would generally cross-refer to this when considering cancellation claims or restricting coverage:

FCDO also advises against all but essential travel to border areas with Cambodia. Specifically:

• within 50km of the whole border with Cambodia

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/thailand (updated today)

The page also highlights other parts of the country where the advice is not to travel unless essential, so it's probably best to differentiate between these and other areas that are presumably deemed safe(r).

Pollycat

The border between the 2 countries has been in dispute for a long time.

I'd hold off booking but if I already had a booking, I wouldn't knee-jerk and cancel.
I'd be keeping a close eye on what FCDO said.

Having said that, we travelled to Sri Lanka during the war with the Tamil Tigers many times.

user1977

I'm not sure that's much different from the previous advice. Lots of countries have advice to avoid border areas, with the remainder of the country being deemed safe. 

jimi_man

Agreed. The border with Malaysia and Thailand has long been an unsafe area with the rest of (both) countries being fine. 

I'd still book to Thailand quite happily. 

SiliconChip

There are plenty of places in Thailand that are a long way from the Cambodia border (which isn't an area that many tourists tend to go to anyway unless they are attempting to travel to of from Cambodia) so if your trip is to those other places then I wouldn't have any concerns about travelling there. I very much doubt if the Cambodian Air Force (if such a thing exists) will be bombing Chiang Mai or Ko Phi Phi any time soon.

Emmia

Cambodia doesn't have bombers or fighter jets, but does have an air force

Cambodia and Thailand conflict: How do their militaries compare? - https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/how-do-cambodia-thailands-militaries-compare-2025-07-24/

Ballard

The foreigners who would be inconvenienced by this are those who are there long time and need to leave the country to restart the clock on their visa. A common route was to take a bus to Poipet, go across the border and immediately return.

i doubt very much that you’d have any idea what was happening if you were in a tourist area in Thailand. 

An interesting piece of trivia - Siem Reap translates as Thailand Defeated. 

strawb_shortcake

One of my siblings live in Thailand and usually crosses at Cambodia to renew their visa. They have in-laws that live very close to the Cambodian border but we've not heard that they feel in danger where there they are as yet...

fifeken

strawb_shortcake said:

One of my siblings live in Thailand and usually crosses at Cambodia to renew their visa. They have in-laws that live very close to the Cambodian border but we've not heard that they feel in danger where there they are as yet...

To put the opposite angle on it, I'm in Thailand at the moment and have seen pictures of evacuation centres in Sisaket province showing refugees from the border districts moving "inland" to safety, and of food distribution areas being set up to support them.

Saying that, to answer the OP, I wouldn't be changing any plans I had made unless they involved going near the danger areas which is very unlikely for the average Joe.

Doshwaster

I'm going to Thailand in October and I'm not concerned at all. As long as you avoid the border regions than I can't see any cause for concern.

There might be some risk if you were planning on flying between Thailand and Cambodia. Currently flights haven't been affected but if things escalate then there could be cancellations.  The governments could ban flights or Airlines could cancel services as they tend not to like flying through areas with missiles and warplanes whizzing through the air.