US, UK, Japan, Australia, Canada advise against travel to Bangladesh

Dhaka: Due to the ongoing nationwide unrest following protests and curfew, many countries are advising against travel to Bangladesh over safety and security concerns of their travellers.

The United States of America, the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada and Australia are in the list of the countries which have issued travel alerts, advising against visiting Bangladesh at the moment.

For instance, the US Embassy in Bangladesh issued an advisory on July 21, where they put the Southeast Asian country in its Level Four travel risk, which implies “do not travel to Bangladesh due to civil unrest, crime and terrorism”.

The United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office also issued a notice, updated on July 26, advising against all but essential travel to Bangladesh for similar reasons.

Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, in a notice, updated on July 31, urged their citizens to reconsider the need to travel to Bangladesh following widespread civil unrest.

Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also issued a Level 2 alert on July 21, which states nonessential and non-urgent travel to Bangladesh to be suspended.

Due to the current political instability stemming from student protests and curfew, the inbound travel industry is suffering from massive losses, as visitors from the country’s top source markets are refraining from travel to Bangladesh.

Industry stakeholders are urging the government to bring back political stability countywide as well as to ensure travellers safety and security.

Also, once the situation is normal, the information must be disseminated worldwide to bring back travellers’ faith in visiting Bangladesh again, concluded industry stakeholders.