Branson calls for ban on terror warnings
Sir Richard Branson has slammed foreign office travel warnings on terrorism, saying they should be banned.
The Virgin founder and president says the warnings are "exactly what the terrorists want" and risk devastating the tourism industries and economies of the countries affected.
"Terrorists put bombs in a Bali nightclub – then for the next 10 years Bali’s economy has been ruined because travel advisories stop tourists from travelling there," he said in a comment piece for the Independent.
"Terrorists carried out a kidnapping in Kenya – and the US Department of State, by including the word "warning" in their travel advisory, has effectively negated all insurance, devastating industries from tourism to film, and even contributed to making it uneconomical for Virgin Atlantic to continue flying there."
He said the Foreign Office’s advice on Egypt warns of the high risk of attacks, including in "public places frequented by foreigners", even though during all the recent upheavals tourists have been "virtually unaffected".
On the other hand, said Branson, if a terrorist attack happens in the US or the UK, governments encourage people to show their support by travelling there.
In its defence, the UK Foreign Office said it takes travel advice very seriously and its advice is kept under constant review.
"The safety of British Nationals will always be our utmost priority and we have a responsibility to make sure British nationals have the necessary information and advice so that they can make their own choices about foreign travel," said a spokesman.
"We know there is a demand from the public for advice about threats to their safety and security and we would rightly be criticised if UK lives were lost and we had not reflected a known terrorist threat in our travel advice.
"We rarely advise against travel to a country due to the threat from terrorism. We do so only if we judge that the threat is sufficiently specific, large-scale or endemic to affect British nationals severely."
ABTA also defended the UK Foreign Office, saying it was doing a good job, although it admitted other countries might go too far with blanket bans.
"When governments issue travel advice their primary consideration has to be the safety of their citizens, but potential damage to the relevant country’s economy is also an important consideration," said a spokesman.
"The UK Foreign Office has a good record in getting this balance right and the UK travel industry relies on and trusts their advisories. Where appropriate the FCO is careful to target its advice to specific areas rather than whole countries, unlike other foreign governments who are often much more inclined to issue blanket travel bans which can have a significant impact on local people’s livelihoods."
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Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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