Foreign Office changes its travel advice to Tunisia and recommends that British tourists return to the United Kingdom
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has changed on 9 July its travel advice to Tunisia to advise against all but essential travel for the time being, and recommends that British tourists return to the United Kingdom.
FCO travel advice has highlighted for some time the high threat from terrorism in Tunisia, but the evolving security situation since the attack almost two weeks ago means the decision has been taken to advise against all but essential travel to Tunisia.
The FCO is working closely with tour operators to ensure British nationals tourists are able to return to the UK.
Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said:
Since the attack in Sousse the intelligence and threat picture has developed considerably, leading us to the view that a further terrorist attack is highly likely.
The Tunisian investigation into those behind the Sousse attack and that on the Bardo museum earlier this year is ongoing and the Tunisians have made clear they want to track down further individuals who they suspect may have links to this attack.
While we are working with the Tunisian authorities to further strengthen those measures, we judge that more work is needed to effectively protect tourists from the terrorist threat.
Taking all these factors together we judge it is right and prudent to make this change. We have not taken this decision lightly but our first priority will always be the safety of our citizens.
In the days and weeks ahead, we will continue to keep the situation under close review and to work with the Tunisians to further understand the threat and to strengthen their security response to it.
If you are in Tunisia, you should contact your tour operator or airline who can help plan your return. Anyone travelling independently should look to return on commercial flights.
We keep our travel advice under constant review.
Further information
Travel advice to Tunisia can be found at: www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/tunisia
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