It has come to my attention that a few members are concerned about the X2 Conference due to media reports covering the current political dissatisfaction being expressed in Bangkok and a few smaller cities. Given the media reports, such concern is not unreasonable and is certainly understandable.

As of the current state of the protest movement in Thailand, the general safety of the regular visitor is not under significant threat. The protest areas have remained isolated to specific locations and the use of any countermeasures by authorities is no more than what has been recently seen in European protests, and in some cases the Thai authorities have used much less force than their European counterparts, because gatherings have remained mostly non-violent except for rare and isolated incidents. For a significant percentage of the population, including the X2 Elite team, days are uneventful and the current state of Thai politics is unnoticeable.

Protests in Thailand are fairly regular, just as the protests that can be regularly seen in Tokyo, outside of the White House in Washington D.C., or any number of major cities in democracies around the globe on any given day.

Overall

Overall, Thai political activism and events exclude the expatriate population and tourists, virtually isolating these groups from political upheavals or other events. During the coup in 2006, the U.S. military still visited Pattaya and the hotspots for travelers remained packed with tourists.

The Anantara Riverside Resort & Spa is located well away from the protest sites, which have been centered upon a limited number of government buildings. The average visitor should be safe from harm and should not encounter any protests during the conference without traveling specifically to a protest location. Overall, the protest activities should not affect any general tourist activities or the X2 Elite conference.

On the off chance developments occur that could jeopardize the safety of visitors to Bangkok, then we would choose to not go ahead with the conference for safety reasons. However, under the current conditions, there are no significant threats to safety and the X2 Elite Conference will continue as planned.