State Department simplifies travel advisories
System specifies what raises country’s risk
WASHINGTON – The State Department revamped its warnings about the risks of traveling to other countries in an effort to make them easier to understand, officials announced Wednesday.
The department changed the phrasing in warnings and alerts, which some travelers found confusing, to a colored-number system of advisories with more explicit descriptions of what yielded the ranking.
Countries are labeled No. 1 if travelers should take normal precautions, No. 2 for increased caution, No. 3 if travelers should reconsider the trip and No. 4, which recommends against travel at that time. Specific threats will be described with letters such as C for crime, T for terrorism and U for civil unrest.
“It is much more easily understandable,” said Michelle Bernier-Toth, acting deputy assistant secretary for overseas citizens services at the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs.
“This is the biggest overhaul that we’ve done in a very, very long time” af- ter some tinkering with language a decade ago, she said.
The purpose of the consular messages is to offer timely advice about destinations and activities overseas. Reviews are done annually for countries ranked No. 1 or 2 and every six months for those at No. 3 or 4, which could get more frequent reviews if events warrant.
Travelers were often confused on the difference between warnings and alerts or between emergency and security messages, Bernier-Toth said.
“Sometimes our various documents were not readily understood,” BernierToth said. “Personally, I was tired of explaining the difference between a travel warning and a travel alert, even to some of my colleagues.”
Every country will have a travel advisory with plain-language terms about the risks and threats. Travelers might need time to become familiar with the new format. “I think there might be a bit of a learning curve,” Bernier-Toth said.
The No. 4 countries with do-not-travel warnings include Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Mali, North Korea, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen.
The State Department can’t prohibit U.S. citizens from traveling to a country, other than restricting passports for North Korea, which requires a case-bycase waiver. The advisories echo what the department tells its own workers about travel risks.
For example, Mexico is rated Level 2 overall: Increased caution is urged because of crime. But five of the country’s states — Colima, Guerrero, Michoacan, Sinaloa and Tamaulipas — carry “do not travel” warnings because of violent crime, gang activity, killings, kidnapping and trafficking in drugs and humans. Embassy workers are ordered not to travel in those regions.
“We wanted to make sure that the U.S. traveling public was aware of all those restrictions that we impose on ourselves,” Bernier-Toth said.
Vacation destinations in Mexico such as the state of Baja California Sur, which includes Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo, and the state of Quintana Roo, which includes Cancun and Cozumel, are rated Level 2 with cautions to avoid flaunting wealth.
Rodrigo Esponda, managing director of the Los Cabos Tourism Board, said his destination on the Pacific Coast had 16% growth in visitors during 2017 and has been growing since 2010 after recovering from a hurricane.
To keep the area safe, public and private institutions have invested $47 million since August on a plan that includes networking authorities with hotels and airlines to provide a rapid response to emergencies.
“We wanted to make sure that the U.S. traveling public was aware of all those restrictions that we impose on ourselves.”
Michelle Bernier-Toth State Department