The end of the Cold War and start of globalization has led to a rapid expansion in international tourism. A parallel increase in risk has lead to governments taking a more proactive role in monitoring and advising their citizens of various dangers. These dangers range from human-caused like crime and terrorism to ecological like diseases. The internet has allowed governments to easily reach its citizens with travel advisories. The United States and the main Commonwealth countries have led to the charge in advising their citizens via the web.
Countries Travel Advisories Websites:
Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade
United Kingdom's Foreign & Commonwealth Office
United States' Department of State
The Commonwealth countries do a good job of providing warnings. The first information displayed, usually in a color-coded system, gives the general advisory and any related important information. New Zealand even provides links from the other countries' travel warnings pages.
The United States' State Department page is horrible, though. One has to scroll through a CIA World Factbook-style introduction and then sort through other general information to get to the advisories. Looking up Iran one will have to read past "Iran is an Islamic Republic" to get to any useful information.
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