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Travel Advice Explained
Every day, several thousand Australians log-on to this website to read travel advice produced by the Australian Government. We know that they sometimes have further queries about travel advice and its preparation. The following provides you with some answers to these frequently asked questions.

Who produces Travel Advice?
Where does the information come from?
Is there a scale in travel advisories?
What does the advice really mean?
How current is the information?
Does the department provide further advice on travel to countries?
How can I continue to monitor developments that might affect my safety?
Who produces Travel Advice?
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade produces travel advisories for Australian travellers or residents overseas. Responsibility for travel advisories rests with the Consular Branch of the department, which also oversees the consular assistance this department provides to more than 15,000 Australians who encounter trouble overseas each year.

Travel advisories are all about ensuring Australians are well-informed and well-prepared for travel overseas and helping them avoid dangers and difficulties. They provide up-to-date information about the security environment in a particular country, including in relation to possible terrorist threats or problems with law and order. They give advice on a range of practical issues like visa requirements, health and medical issues, cultural or religious differences, and so on. They also tell you how to get in touch with the local Australian Embassy, High Commission or Consulate or, if we don’t have one, where else you might be able to get assistance if you need it. In other words, practical advice for every traveller.

Where does the information come from?
Our travel advisories are careful assessments which draw on a range of sources of current information. These include:

assessments from Australian embassies, high commissions and consulates overseas about security conditions in their countries of responsibility;
our experience of the difficulties experienced by Australians overseas every day and the questions we are asked by the travelling public - at our embassies, on our free call lines or by email;
intelligence, with particular weight given to threat assessments provided by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation; and
our close consultation with the governments of the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand, each of which have a similar travel advisory service. We do not always provide exactly the same advice as these governments - because we each need to think about the particular circumstances facing our own citizens.
Is there a scale in travel advisories?
The department does not maintain a strict rating system that can be colour-coded or numbered. We don’t have such a system because we believe people would focus on the coding rather than read the content - and it is the content that is important to enable people to make informed decisions about travel.

Nevertheless, our travel advisories fall into seven broad categories which reflect our overall assessment of the security situation. The following key phrases are used in the summaries of travel advisories to indicate this overall assessment:

Australians are advised:

To exercise good personal security awareness.
To be alert to their own security.
To exercise caution and be aware of developments that might affect their safety.
To exercise a high degree of (or “extreme”) caution. If the Australian Government judges that the overall threat environment in a country is high, we will - at a minimum - advise Australians to exercise a high degree of caution.
To defer non-essential travel (in some cases, we may only encourage Australians to “consider” deferring non-essential travel). We may also advise Australians in the country to consider leaving unless they have compelling reasons to stay.
To defer (or avoid) all travel. We may also advise Australians in the country to depart as soon as possible using available commercial means.
Not to travel and, for Australians in the country, to depart immediately by whatever means available. In some situations, such as ongoing or imminent conflict, we may alternatively tell Australians in the country to remain indoors in as safe a place as is possible.
The level of advice for a particular destination is determined after considering the risks and comparing these to the general security threats in a large Australian city. The capacity of the foreign government to deal with risks is also taken into account.

It is important to note that we do not employ strict formulas. You will find that at times our advice may not fit exactly with the above descriptions - we will use language that is best suited to a specific situation and provides the most practical advice to Australians.

What does the advice really mean?
It is important to understand that what we provide is travel advice. The department does not and cannot make decisions for people about when, where or whether they should travel. Our responsibility is to help Australians make their own well-informed decisions. This applies equally to first-time holiday-makers, seasoned business travellers, expatriate Australians, government officials or members of Parliament. Our travel advisories are never used to make a political statement.

We try to use direct and clear language in travel advice. If we have credible, specific information about a threat in a particular country, this will be communicated through the travel advice. It may be accompanied by a recommendation that Australians defer or avoid all travel to that destination or area within that destination.

In other circumstances - where the threat is not specific but involves a high generalised threat of terrorist attack or a risk of serious political or civil unrest we may advise Australian travellers to defer non-essential travel. Such a recommendation is advisory rather than mandatory. Whether travel is essential is a matter for personal judgment - based on your family or business needs, your concern for your own safety, your personal knowledge of the country or area, whether an alternative destination may be chosen or whether the purpose of your travel may be accomplished in another way, for example through tele-conferencing or email. We cannot weigh those factors for you, because they will differ from individual to individual. Only you can judge what is essential to you.

How current is the information?
The information is as current as we can possibly make it. The Department’s Consular Emergency Centre, which operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, and our network of missions overseas, give round-the-clock coverage of security and related developments around the world. Travel advice is updated promptly in response to these developments, and that is why we encourage Australians not only to read travel advice before they leave, but also to monitor it carefully while they are travelling.

As a general rule, even when there is no new information, each travel advisory is reviewed on a quarterly basis and reissued.

Travel advice is not updated simply to reflect the fact that a security incident overseas has occurred. It is not a news service that reports on all incidents. The travel advice may contain examples of security incidents from the recent past but these serve as an example of the sorts of threats mentioned in the advice. When security incidents occur overseas, we assess the risk to Australians travellers – if the level of risk has not changed, the travel advice will not be changed.

Does the department provide further advice on travel to destinations?
No. The department produces only one form of advice in the form of the travel advisories. An important principle behind our work is that the advice we provide to the Australian public is exactly the advice we provide to our own staff, to other government agencies or to the private sector.

We operate on a strict principle of no double standards: that is, our best advice is the advice that is made available to the general public in our travel advisories. We do not reserve privileged information for others - be they our own staff or for other government officials. This is so all Australians can be confident that the information and advice we provide reflects our best assessment of the safety and security issues they may face in a particular country.

As part of this commitment, should the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade withdraw staff from a post because of security concerns, we will state this clearly in the travel advice so that the decisions we make about our own staff welfare are transparent to the wider community.

If you ring the department, we will not be able to add to the advice that is published on the internet. That is our most up-to-date advice and we cannot, and should not, predict what will happen in the future.

How can I continue to monitor developments that might affect my safety?
Travel advice can be accessed on the internet, and you can also subscribe electronically to updates - just complete the box in the top right hand corner of the country's travel advice and any updates will then be automatically e-mailed to you.

If you do not have internet access either in Australia or overseas, the local Australian embassy, high commission or consulate can provide you with a copy. Contact details are provided at the bottom of each country-specific travel advisory.

Alternatively, you can telephone the Consular Emergency Centre at any time on +61 2 6261 3305 (from overseas) or 1300 555 135 (within Australia - local call cost).

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