Wellabroad.com Blog

The United States government issues various warnings that pertain to international travel.  They all have different purposes and communicate various messages to U.S. citizens.   As an international traveler, it would be a good idea to familiarize yourself with the unique terms.

Travel Alert

A Travel Alert is an indication that the situation in a particular country is likely for the possibility of unrest or disruption to the daily lives of those living or traveling in a specific country.

As defined by the U.S. Department of State (USDOS) - “Travel Alerts are a means to disseminate information about terrorist threats and other relatively short-term and/or trans-national conditions posing significant risks to the security of American travelers. The Travel Alerts (TA) are made when there is a specific threat that cannot be countered. In the past, Travel Alerts have been issued to deal with short-term coups, violence by terrorists and anniversary dates of specific terrorist events.”

In recent years, Travel Alerts from the USDOS have centered on local elections.  If a country has experienced violence in the past leading up to elections and another one is approaching, the USDOS will often issue an alert for the country, advising travelers to be cautious.

Travel Warnings

From the USDOS: “Travel Warnings are issued when the State Department decides, based on all relevant information, to recommend that Americans avoid travel to a certain country. Countries where avoidance of travel is recommended will have Travel Warnings as well as Country Specific Information.”

Travel Warnings are more likely if the intelligence information is more reliable, the threat is greater, or if the situation has deteriorated to the point that US citizens are being asked or required to leave the country due to the threat.

As an example, if a political party announces ahead of time that there will, in fact, be protests around an election and if past protests had lead to violence, the USDOS may issue a Travel Warning rather than a Travel Alert as in the example above.  Specific threats also call for the release of a Travel Warning, such as a threat of kidnapping or violence against a ‘Westerner’. 

As you can see from the definition, the Travel Warning is a recommendation of action by the USDOS.   There are different types of Travel Warnings, the USDOS may recommend that Americans leave a particular country or they may require Americans to leave. 

Within the Seven Corners Assistance Unit, one method we judge the severity of the Travel Warning is what the USDOS is saying about the actions they are taking.  For example, if the US Department of State is evacuating their own personnel, that is a definite sign to start making your way out of the country.  And of course, Seven Corners provides our clients with real-time information through wellabroad.com.