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Smart Traveller is now smarter. At least, that’s the idea now that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has relaunched its travel advisory website,smartraveller.gov.au. The Foreign Affairs Minister,KRudd, was on hand last week tospruik the new site, saying it would “help Australians make smart choices about where, when and how they travel overseas”. The old site has been streamlined (translation: had all the useless junk stripped out of it), there’s now a dedicated mobile site, plus a DFAT Twitter feed and instructional videos on YouTube. Advertisement: Story continues below There’s also a new ad campaign to go with the relaunch, urging Aussie travellers to “register, subscribe, insure” – as in, register your plans with Smart Traveller before leaving the country, subscribe to the website’s updates, and get travel insurance. All good advice. But just how useful is the website now? I’ve criticised smartraveller.gov.au before, not least for its stupid spelling, which makes it Smart Raveller, or Smart Rave Ller – ie, not very smart at all – but also because its dire warnings of danger overseas too often sound like the kind of thing a hand-wringing parent might say, not an all-knowing government agency. That’s still going to be a problem. But let’s do the good stuff first. The new mobile website is a great idea, provided you have WiFi access overseas. With a few jabs of your finger you can have up-to-date advice on the country you’re travelling in, plus addresses and map references of your nearest embassy should anything go wrong. It also makes it easy to register your whereabouts if you decide to change your plans, or if there’s a problem in the area you’re travelling through. The once ugly, unwieldy regular website has now been cleaned up, making it easier to quickly access the information you need. It’s all good. My only problem with Smart Traveller now is with some of the teeth-clattering warnings. There’s some useful, sound advice on the site, but it’s far from perfect. Some of the information seems out of date.Thailand, for example, is listed as “exercise high degree of caution”, and “reconsider your need to travel” in certain areas. That’s largely due to the floods that have affected the country. That information, however, was issued three weeks ago. Surely things might have changed slightly since then? And some of the information seems overly frightening, if a little vague. Back in Thailand, there’s a warning that “political demonstrations … have resulted in fatalities in recent years. Firearms, grenades and small explosive devices have been used at various locations.” Right. Um, which locations again? (No mention of gun crime in theUSA sectionthough.) Turkey, meanwhile, is listed as “exercise high degree of caution” largely due to a terrorist attack in Ankara last September. “Terrorist attacks can occur anywhere at any time in Turkey,” Smart Traveller says. Yowser. Count me out. Indonesia, too, currently has a code orange “reconsider your need to travel” slapped on it, citing more threats of terrorist attacks and other violence. Bali, in particular, is a “priority target” for terrorists, which is enough to put anyone off their Bintang. The reality, however, is that plenty of travellers are visiting supposedly dangerous countries right now and not experiencing any problems, just as travellers are inevitably getting themselves robbed or bitten by wild animals or stuffed into jail cells in seemingly harmless countries. Travel can be unpredictable like that. And I don’t mean to play down the warnings on the site – this stuff is real. But it’s not going to happen to everyone. Not even close. That’s where Smart Traveller’s three steps – register, subscribe, insure – become great advice. It’s an extra layer of protection for those choosing to go against the dire warnings of terrorist doom. Do you check the Smart Traveller website before you travel? Has it helped you out overseas? Are you a fan of the new site? email: bengroundwater@gmail.com Follow Ben Groundwater on Twitter@bengroundwater Comments 61comments so far it’s just an ass covering exercise. i work for the govt and have some sympathy here. you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t. what’s the first thing that usually happens when people get caught in a violent demonstration in Bangkok? you know it - blame the govt for not warning, rescuing or air-dropping fresh supplies of Singha to them. it’s the old saying - you get the govt you deserve.i actually liked the old ST website. of course, you took a lot of the overly-cautious with a heavy grain of salt, but it was a good source of detailed info. jules| melbourne - November 30, 2011, 11:33AM Always enjoy your column Ben. Currently I have a daughter holidaying in Thailand for 2 weeks. Another daughter is going there for the new year and, among other things, is attending the Full Moon Party on New Years Eve. I follow world current affairs closely and am aware of the recent political unrest and current floods in Thailand. Political and terrorist activities are not concerning me in relation to their holidays. Like most parents, I’m more worried about the situations in which they’ll put themselves in the course of their visit. Your points about the DFAT website are well made and generally speaking I believe Thailand is stable and safe to visit. DFAT can’t stop people from making bad decisions, but it does need to provide up to date accurate information. The rest is up to the individual. James Kenny| Dingley - November 30, 2011, 11:39AM Am I the only one seriously disgusted by that photo of the two backpackers being pulled through floodwaters by a local who probably has better things to be getting on with than playing tour guide, like saving her home?On topic: people have quite a ridiculous sense of entitlement sometimes about the government’s supposed obligation to look after them. During the evacuations from Japan after the nuclear meltdown, one radio station interviewed an Aussie expat (with young kids!) who was quite open about the fact that he wasn’t even looking at what other options might be available to evacuate his family because he thought it was up to the Australian government to put on free flights.Making travel advices and warnings a notch higher than strictly necessary gives the Department of Foreign Affairs some buffer where they can say “well we did tell people not to go there”. DisDis| Sydney - November 30, 2011, 11:50AM I don’t think Smart Traveller is out of line at all with Thailand’s rating. The floods haven’t fully receded so it probably isn’t a great idea for tourists to be tramping about some areas. The ‘reconsider your need to travel’ region around Preah Vihear is definitely warranted, considering the Thais are taking pot shots at the Cambodian military every other week. Everyone should be aware of the potential threats down in the Songkhla region. Best for the masses to be over-informed, than not. brently| bangkok - November 30, 2011, 11:51AM Looking at Smartraveller is critical for anyone going overseas.That’s because travel insurance products have in their fine print an escape clause for themselves. They refuse to pay out if you have travelled to a country / region that has an Australian Government travel warning / directive against it - even if the warning / directive was issued AFTER you arrived. Chris| Brisbane - November 30, 2011, 11:56AM The difficulty with these warnings is that the whole country is included. I’ve recently returned from Turkey and travelled around Istanbul, Ankara, Aegean coast and Capadoccia, without feeling at all threatened. I also found Turkish people polite, friendly and liberal in their opinions. Marcus| Brisbane - November 30, 2011, 12:13PM Having just returned from a couple weeks in Thailand - I can assure all you worry warts that it is peaches & cream there. Of course if you stray too far off the beaten track up north you are likely going to be in a world of hurt !!. I used the old website as a guide only - just about everywhere I have travelled has been against the recommendation of the Aus Govt. !! JL1972| StKilda - November 30, 2011, 12:13PM Just returned from 4 days in Bangkok last week, the news coverage and press reports would have you believe the place is head high in water, the city is completely dry,no flooding what so ever,hotels are empty,ppl are doing ti tough,the locals cant be the warnings that have been given by other governments,so point 1,take media reports with a grain of salt and government websites as a guide only,get your info on the ground locally. starship| sydney - November 30, 2011, 12:28PM Totally agree with DisDis, 11.50am, regarding the photo. Quite despicable. feels sick.- November 30, 2011, 12:48PM Chris: I’m not sure where you’ve been getting your travel insurance from - but as someone who works in this particular field, what you have written needs a bit of clarification. An insurer cannot retroactively exclude cover in a country once you are there (provided you advised them you would be in that country), but if you say booked tickets to Thailand after the floods became a known issue, you are effectively selecting against that insurer - because the likelyhood of there being a claim is so much greater, and therefore they will not cover you (but would cover you if you booked the tickets before the floods but had to cancel because of them) - and lastly, I havent ever seen the fine print you refer to - The excluded countries are specified and not great in numbers (Afgan, Iraq etc) sounds like you should shop around next time you’re looking for travel insurance…

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