🧰 Official Travel Advice MCP Server

An MCP server that answers questions about UK FCDO foreign travel advice from the official GOV.UK Content API — safety warnings, entry requirements, health requirements and update history — with a source link, update timestamps and Open Government Licence attribution on every answer.

Runs in Apify Standby mode. Connect an MCP client to the server URL with path /mcp.

This is a standby MCP server: it stays warm on Apify and answers tool calls from any MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, an agent framework) at https://nexgenwatch--official-travel-advice-mcp.apify.actor/mcp. Billing is pay-per-event: $0.05 when the server starts, then $0.05 per tool call (mcp-tool-call). Source: www.gov.uk.

No login, no source API key and no CAPTCHA solving are involved: the source is read logged-out with an identified contact User-Agent.

📊 Sample Output

A standby server answers tool calls rather than writing a dataset, so the sample is the server's own live health answer (GET https://nexgenwatch--official-travel-advice-mcp.apify.actor/, HTTP 200, read on 2026-09-17) followed by its tool table:

{
  "server": "official-travel-advice",
  "billing_gate": true,
  "declared_events": [
    "apify-actor-start",
    "mcp-tool-call"
  ],
  "scope": "The official GOV.UK Content API for UK FCDO foreign travel advice (gov.uk/api/content/foreign-travel-advice). Open Government Licence v3.0.",
  "robots_permits_travel_advice": true,
  "robots_note": "permitted",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office via GOV.UK.",
  "rate_limit_per_sec": 4.0,
  "ready": true
}

Tool	Arguments	What it returns
get_destination_warning	destination: str	The FCDO's current advice-against-travel status for a destination (e.g. 'avoid all but essential travel to parts'), with the headline warnings-and-insurance summary and the latest change note. Official GOV.UK content wit
get_entry_requirements	destination: str	The FCDO's entry-requirements advice for a destination — passport validity, visas, and border rules for British-citizen passport holders — verbatim-in-substance from GOV.UK, with a source link and update timestamps.
get_health_requirements	destination: str	The FCDO's health advice for a destination — vaccinations, medication rules and health risks — verbatim-in-substance from GOV.UK, with a source link and update timestamps.
compare_destination_advice	destinations: list	Compare the FCDO advice-against-travel status across several destinations at once. Each resolved destination is one official GOV.UK read (and one charge). Unresolvable names are listed separately and not charged.
get_advice_update	destination: str	When the FCDO last updated its advice for a destination, and what changed — the latest change description plus recent change history and the review date. Official GOV.UK content with a source link.

✅ What you get

5 tools, each returning a JSON object built only from what the source answered, with a scope and note field stating what the source does and does not cover. A lookup the source answers with 'not found' is a sourced answer (charged); malformed input or a source failure returns a notice that is NOT charged; nothing is ever fabricated.

Tools

• get_destination_warning(destination) — the FCDO advice-against-travel status (e.g. "avoid all but essential travel to parts"), the headline warnings summary, and the latest change note.
• get_entry_requirements(destination) — passport validity, visas and border rules for British-citizen passport holders.
• get_health_requirements(destination) — vaccinations, medication rules and health risks.
• compare_destination_advice(destinations) — the advice-against-travel status across several destinations at once (one official read, and one charge, per resolved destination).
• get_advice_update(destination) — when the advice was last updated and what changed, with recent change history and the review date.

Every answer carries source_url, public_updated_at / reviewed_at, and the OGL attribution.

The source, and what will and won't bill

The one door is the official GOV.UK Content API (gov.uk/api/content/foreign-travel-advice/{destination}), queried logged-out with no API key. robots.txt permits these paths for our agent and is re-proven at server boot. A schema canary refuses to serve a document whose shape has drifted.

Only successful calls bill. A completed retrieval of official advice charges. A destination GOV.UK has no page for (usually a misspelled name), an empty argument, a GOV.UK read failure, or a schema drift returns a notice and is not charged.

Scope and honesty

This server reproduces official FCDO advice verbatim-in-substance with citations; it is guidance for UK travellers as published by the FCDO, not legal or medical advice. It is a different job from a commercial travel-inventory MCP: it returns official safety/entry/health evidence with sources, not bookable inventory. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

⚙️ Sample inputs

1. Connect an MCP client (Claude Desktop / Cursor style config; your Apify API token goes in the header):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "official-travel-advice-mcp": {
      "url": "https://nexgenwatch--official-travel-advice-mcp.apify.actor/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer <YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>"
      }
    }
  }
}

2. One tool call over JSON-RPC (what the client sends to /mcp; each call is one mcp-tool-call event):

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "get_destination_warning",
    "arguments": {
      "destination": "<destination>"
    }
  }
}

3. Health check from a shell (free — no tool call is charged):

$curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN" https://nexgenwatch--official-travel-advice-mcp.apify.actor/

🧾 JSON sample record

The live health record above is the server's own answer; a tool result carries the fields listed in the tool table plus scope and note.

🔧 How it works

Source. www.gov.uk — endpoints: https://www.gov.uk/api/content/foreign-travel-advice, https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice, https://www.gov.uk/robots.txt. Public, logged-out reads only.

Standby. Apify keeps one server process warm; each MCP session is served by that process and idle servers are stopped by the platform. Nothing is cached between calls except what the source itself caches.

Charging. Every tool call charges one mcp-tool-call at $0.05 through Apify's pay-per-event billing before the answer is returned; the declared events are asserted against the live pricing at startup (billing_gate in the health answer).

What is not done. No login, no CAPTCHA bypass, no private data, no scraping of pages the source does not publish to any visitor.

💰 Pricing example

Event	Free	Bronze	Silver	Gold
Actor Start (apify-actor-start)	$0.05	$0.05	$0.05	$0.05
Tool call (mcp-tool-call)	$0.05	$0.05	$0.05	$0.05

• 10 tool calls in one session: $0.05 start + 10 × $0.05 = $0.55
• 100 tool calls in one session: $0.05 start + 100 × $0.05 = $5.05
• 1000 tool calls in one session: $0.05 start + 1000 × $0.05 = $50.05

A health check or a connection that makes no tool call charges only the $0.05 start fee. A sourced 'not found' answer is a completed tool call and is charged; a notice for malformed input or a source failure is not charged (settle() charges only chargeable outcomes).

⚖️ Legal & ToS

The server reads public data published by www.gov.uk to any visitor, identifies itself with a contact User-Agent, and does not access accounts or private data. Use the answers in line with the source's terms and your local law; the intended use is B2B research and agent tooling.

❓ FAQ

Q: Do I need a source API key?
A: No. www.gov.uk is read logged-out. You need only your Apify API token to connect to the server.

Q: Which MCP clients work?
A: Any client that speaks the MCP HTTP transport: Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, LangChain/LlamaIndex MCP adapters and Apify's own MCP client. Point it at the /mcp URL above.

Q: What happens when the source has no answer?
A: A sourced 'not found' (for example a 404 for an unknown identifier) comes back as an answer with scope and note explaining what was checked (where the server carries those fields), and is charged as a completed call; malformed input or a source outage returns a notice that is not charged. Nothing is invented.

Q: How is a call billed?
A: One mcp-tool-call event per tool call at $0.05, plus $0.05 when the server starts. Idle time is not billed to you.

Q: Is it rate limited?
A: The server paces requests to the source and answers calls in the order they arrive.

Q: Can I call it without an MCP client?
A: Yes — the /mcp endpoint is plain JSON-RPC over HTTP (sample input 2), and GET / is a free health check.

🆘 Troubleshooting

• 401 / 403 from the server → the Authorization header is missing or the token is wrong → use Bearer <your Apify API token>.
• 400 Missing session ID → the client hit /mcp without initialising an MCP session → let the MCP client connect (it performs the handshake); raw JSON-RPC needs the session header the initialise call returns.
• Tool returns a notice instead of data → the input was malformed or empty, or the source failed → the call was not charged; check the note/reason field, fix the input and call again.
• First call is slow → the standby server was cold and Apify started it → later calls in the same session are fast.

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