FO to review travel advice
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw yesterday announced a full review of Foreign Office travel advice to tourists and business travellers.
Mr Straw said in a written statement to Parliament that the Government had improved intelligence warnings since the October 2002 Bali bombing, which killed more than 200 people.
Then the FO was roundly criticised for failing to pass on intelligence warnings.
Mr Straw said: “We have extensively reviewed and improved our travel advice since Bali. But I have asked officials to look again at some of the underlying issues. What is the right balance between information, warning, and advice?”
He said the right balance had to be struck so as to avoid “prudent precaution” slipping over into “overreaction”, as that would “play into the hands of terrorists?”
The review, which will consult with other Government departments, the travel industry, the public, and other national governments, is scheduled for completion by the end of January.
The announcement comes three weeks after suicide bombing attacks on the British consulate and HSBC bank headquarters in Istanbul, Turkey, which killed more than 30 people.
