Commonwealth ministers call for care in travel advisories

Tourism ministers of the Commonwealth agreed Saturday that travel advisories over terrorism and health scares should be issued with greater care to limit their impact on developing countries.
In a joint communique issued at the end of a meeting here, the ministers "urged member countries to consult in relation to travel advisories in order to promote informed decisions and mitigate their adverse economic impact."
The issue had been a hotly contested subject during the inaugural meeting of Commonwealth tourism ministers this week, delegates said.
The 53-member Commonwealth's poorer nations had complained that travel advisories issued by richer members did not reflect the real security situation in their countries.
The warnings consist mainly of advice cautioning citizens against travel to a particular country for security or other reasons. They had become more frequent because of the increased terrorist threat world-wide and the rising incidence of health outbreaks.
Developing member nations called on their wealthier counterparts to be more sensitive and sympathetic, while keeping in mind the security and safety of their citizens.
Delegates from the developed nations said travel advisories sometimes needed to be issued rapidly based on available information.
Among the Commonwealth's members, mainly former British colonies, are impoverished African states and some countries in Asia, many of which have large tourism industries.
A tourism action plan drawn up during the conference said a task force would be formed to consider how a planned Commonwealth Tourism Centre could facilitate the flow of information so that advisories could be more accurate.
Britain's Minister of Tourism and Sport Richard Caborn said at a news conference consultations were underway with the British foreign ministry and pledged efforts would be made to minimise the impact of its travel warnings.
Malaysian Minister of Culture, Arts and Tourism Abdul Kadir Fadzir said he hoped future co-operation on the issue of travel warnings would be better as developed countries would now be more careful, he said.