Travel warnings and advisories are official statements or alerts often released by governments to warn their citizens against unnecessary travels to a particular country or region either because of civil unrest, war, natural disasters or anything that could threaten their safety.
Even without a travel warning and advisory, you wouldn’t want to travel the likes of Syria, and some other parts of the middle east but little do you know that other countries are not too safe for tourists as well. Therefore, the government strives as much as possible to create this awareness for their citizens for them to be wary of planning vacations; the family gets away even business trips to such destinations.
Although a travel warning and advisory no matter how stern it sounds had no legal power to restrain you from traveling, the choice is still yours to make because even after you are advised of the ongoing crisis in a particular country and you still decide to go, you won’t be stooped. But bear in mind that you are traveling at your own risk even though the embassy in your destination will do as much as possible to help you should in case something goes wrong.
In the past few years, major travel warning and advisory released by countries including the United States and the United Kingdom warning their citizens about visiting the following countries Thailand, Mexico, China, India, and the United States. Most recently, the United State also listed Nigeria as unsafe for their citizens to travel.
Asides from the above-listed reasons for issuing a travel advisory, a government might also issue one if they do not have the facilities to respond to the problem of their citizens traveling there whether because they do not have a presence there in the form of an embassy or any other reasons.
Types of travel warning and advisory
The types of travel advisories issued by the government generally depend on the situation of things in the affected country. Some could be a temporary just for a short period while some could be permanent. Also so could be partial while others total.
Temporary and permanent travel advisory
This type of warning and advisory are issued by the government in the case of temporary issues such as post-election violence, natural disasters, and industrial actions. These sorts of warning can be revoked as soon as the issues are resolved and work returns to normal.
A permanent travel advisory, on the other hand, is issued by governments as a result of prolonged violence or war.
Partial and total travel Advisory
A partial advisory is issued when only a little part of the country is affected by the violence or disaster. The government advises its citizens against those areas or state. Just as the case of Mexico, although the violence was all over the internet only a few parts of the country was affected. The major point of tourist attraction like the Mayan Riviera was free from violence. The total travel advisory, on the other hand, is issued when there is a total shut down of the country by violence. When there is no state or province that can be particularly pointed at as being safe, the government issues a total travel warning.
Evaluating Travel Warnings
I do understand that there are times that you have to take a trip to a particular country, but then your government had issued a travel warning on that particular country. Not to worry because not all travel warnings are created equal just like I explained earlier, so in other to decide whether or not you should heed your government warnings, there is a need to evaluate the travel advisory and below is how
1. Is it a total or partial warning?
You need to ascertain if the entire country is affected by the reported violence because in many cases of natural disasters and violence it is only confined to a particular area of the zone while the rest of the country is still safe welcoming to tourist. You need to ascertain this fact before you decide, but you need to know that a little crisis somewhere in a country can end up being a communal riot real quick.
2. What potential danger you are exposed too
You also need to find out the cause of the unrest, who is involved and who the target of the violence is. The violence that’s targeted at foreigners should give me a red alert while violence among locals should be of lesser concern to you. Make sure you make your findings and get your facts right.
3. How long ago was the warning released?
It is also important to know how long ago the warning was released because situations could have changed over time either for good or worse. If you are looking at a warning issued a few months ago, then it is advisable that you search if you’ll find an update on the alert. Things change over time so does violence. International newspaper websites is a good place to search.
4. What are other countries saying about your intended destination?
Sometimes, travel warnings and advisory are politically influenced as claimed by critics. So in order the get the full picture of the situation it is advisable to compare and contrast travel warning from different countries and see they all agree on the situation of your destination.
5. Is there a haven?
Finally, you need to check and confirm if your country has a haven for you in your intended country of visit. A haven could be an embassy or consulate. Be sure that this safety net is well staffed and fully functional, should in case you run into trouble, you don’t want to be stranded in another man’s land without help in sight.
So, as you plan your next trip, be sure to take all of this into consideration and follow them, and you’ll be fine.
