Official Travel Advisory Comparator — US, UK & Canada

Look up one country or territory and get its current official government travel advisories from the U.S. Department of State, the U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and the Government of Canada, side by side, as one structured JSON record.

Each government uses its own wording and scale ("Level 3: Reconsider Travel", "advises against all but essential travel to parts", "Exercise a high degree of caution"). This Actor keeps that native wording and adds a normalized 1–4 severity, available regional (sub-national) warnings, risk categories, source dates and official source URLs. That way you can compare travel advisories and check for disagreement between governments without scraping three websites.

It is a deterministic data utility, not a chatbot. It uses no LLM and no browser. It reads the governments' own published data feeds, and the same input always produces the same structure.

What you can use it for

• AI agents and assistants: answer "Is it safe to travel to X?" with what governments actually say, citing the sources (callable through the Apify MCP server).
• Travel risk and duty-of-care checks: gate trip approval when any government says "avoid all travel", or flag regional warnings for an itinerary.
• Destination safety data: a country travel risk field for travel apps, insurance and booking flows.
• Spotting disagreement: comparison.materialDisagreement is true when governments differ by two or more levels.

Input

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
destination	string	yes		One country or territory. Common names, alternate spellings and ISO codes work: "Trinidad and Tobago", "trinidad & tobago", "Turkey" → Türkiye, "Ivory Coast" / "Côte d'Ivoire", "TT", "MEX".
sources	array	no	["US","UK","CA"]	Any two or three of US, UK, CA. Case-insensitive aliases are normalized to these codes: us/usa/united states/state department, uk/fcdo/united kingdom/gov.uk, ca/can/canada/travel.gc.ca.
includeRegional	boolean	no	true	Include the list of regional warnings. Regional maximum severity is always returned.

{ "destination": "Trinidad and Tobago" }

Unknown or ambiguous names are never guessed. "Congo", "Korea" and "Virgin Islands" return invalid_destination with a candidates list, and the lookup is not charged.

Output

Every run writes exactly one dataset item. Real output for {"destination": "Trinidad and Tobago"} (retrieved 2026-10-07; long regional details and risk-label lists shortened with "…"):

{
  "schemaVersion": "1.2",
  "status": "success",
  "query": {
    "input": "Trinidad and Tobago",
    "canonicalDestination": "Trinidad and Tobago",
    "iso2": "TT",
    "iso3": "TTO",
    "matchMethod": "name",
    "candidates": []
  },
  "checkedAt": "2026-10-07T21:32:00Z",
  "sourcesRequested": [
    "US",
    "UK",
    "CA"
  ],
  "sourcesSucceeded": [
    "US",
    "UK",
    "CA"
  ],
  "sourcesFailed": [],
  "errors": [],
  "advisories": [
    {
      "sourceCode": "US",
      "sourceName": "U.S. Department of State",
      "sourceUrl": "https://travel.state.gov/content/tsg_aem/us/en/home/international-travel/travel-advisories/destination.tto.html",
      "retrievalUrl": "https://travel.state.gov/_res/rss/TAsTWs.xml",
      "retrievedAt": "2026-10-07T21:32:00Z",
      "sourceUpdatedAt": "2026-04-13",
      "nativeLevel": "Level 3",
      "nativeAdvice": "Reconsider Travel",
      "nativeScale": {
        "type": "numbered",
        "description": "U.S. Department of State uses advisory Levels 1 through 4 (1 Exercise Normal Precautions, 2 Exercise Increased Caution, 3 Reconsider Travel, 4 Do Not Travel)."
      },
      "normalizedSeverity": {
        "overall": 3,
        "regionalMax": null,
        "hasRegionalEscalation": null,
        "basis": "Mapped from U.S. Department of State Level 3 (Reconsider Travel)",
        "scaleNote": "Internal cross-source normalization used by this Actor for comparison (1 normal precautions, 2 increased caution, 3 avoid non-essential/reconsider travel, 4 avoid all travel). Not necessarily the source government's native advisory level; see nativeLevel, nativeAdvice and nativeScale for the official terminology."
      },
      "riskCategories": [
        "crime",
        "terrorism",
        "health"
      ],
      "nativeRiskLabels": [
        "crime",
        "health",
        "terrorism"
      ],
      "riskCategoriesBasis": "Risk factors named in the advisory summary sentence ('... due to ...').",
      "regionalCoverage": "unavailable",
      "regionalCoverageNote": "Regional advisory detail is unavailable from the U.S. State Department RSS source used by this Actor.",
      "regionalWarnings": null
    },
    {
      "sourceCode": "UK",
      "sourceName": "U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office",
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/trinidad-and-tobago",
      "retrievalUrl": "https://www.gov.uk/api/content/foreign-travel-advice/trinidad-and-tobago",
      "retrievedAt": "2026-10-07T21:32:00Z",
      "sourceUpdatedAt": "2026-09-21T15:13:58Z",
      "nativeLevel": "none",
      "nativeAdvice": null,
      "nativeScale": {
        "type": "categorical",
        "description": "UK FCDO uses advisory wording such as 'against all travel' or 'against all but essential travel' (to the whole country or to parts of it) rather than a numbered national scale; nativeLevel lists the GOV.UK alert_status codes."
      },
      "normalizedSeverity": {
        "overall": 1,
        "regionalMax": null,
        "hasRegionalEscalation": false,
        "basis": "GOV.UK alert_status=[]: no FCDO advice against travel to the whole country, mapped to 1 (the FCDO has no intermediate national levels)",
        "scaleNote": "Internal cross-source normalization used by this Actor for comparison (1 normal precautions, 2 increased caution, 3 avoid non-essential/reconsider travel, 4 avoid all travel). Not necessarily the source government's native advisory level; see nativeLevel, nativeAdvice and nativeScale for the official terminology."
      },
      "riskCategories": [
        "crime",
        "terrorism",
        "natural_disaster"
      ],
      "nativeRiskLabels": [
        "Terrorism",
        "Terrorism in Trinidad and Tobago",
        "Violent crime and assault",
        "Drug assisted robbery and sexual assault",
        "Extreme weather and natural disasters",
        "Hurricanes",
        "…"
      ],
      "riskCategoriesBasis": "Section headings of the GOV.UK 'Safety and security' page that match the vocabulary.",
      "regionalCoverage": "available",
      "regionalCoverageNote": null,
      "regionalWarnings": []
    },
    {
      "sourceCode": "CA",
      "sourceName": "Government of Canada",
      "sourceUrl": "https://travel.gc.ca/destinations/trinidad-and-tobago",
      "retrievalUrl": "https://data.international.gc.ca/travel-voyage/cta-cap-tt.json",
      "retrievedAt": "2026-10-07T21:32:00Z",
      "sourceUpdatedAt": "2026-09-24T12:53:00Z",
      "nativeLevel": "advisory-state 1",
      "nativeAdvice": "Exercise a high degree of caution",
      "nativeScale": {
        "type": "categorical",
        "description": "Government of Canada uses named advisory categories rather than numbered levels: 'Take normal security precautions', 'Exercise a high degree of caution', 'Avoid non-essential travel', 'Avoid all travel'. nativeLevel 'advisory-state N' is an internal feed code, not a public level."
      },
      "normalizedSeverity": {
        "overall": 2,
        "regionalMax": 3,
        "hasRegionalEscalation": true,
        "basis": "Mapped from Government of Canada risk level 'Exercise a high degree of caution' (advisory-state 1)",
        "scaleNote": "Internal cross-source normalization used by this Actor for comparison (1 normal precautions, 2 increased caution, 3 avoid non-essential/reconsider travel, 4 avoid all travel). Not necessarily the source government's native advisory level; see nativeLevel, nativeAdvice and nativeScale for the official terminology."
      },
      "riskCategories": [
        "crime",
        "terrorism",
        "civil_unrest",
        "maritime"
      ],
      "nativeRiskLabels": [
        "Crime",
        "Petty crime",
        "Violent crime",
        "Terrorism",
        "Fraud",
        "Demonstrations",
        "…"
      ],
      "riskCategoriesBasis": "Section headings of the travel.gc.ca 'Safety and security' section that match the vocabulary.",
      "regionalCoverage": "available",
      "regionalCoverageNote": null,
      "regionalWarnings": [
        {
          "region": "Regional Advisory",
          "nativeAdvice": "Avoid non-essential travel",
          "normalizedSeverity": 3,
          "nativeDetails": [
            "Avoid non-essential travel to the following areas due to high levels of violence and gang-related crime:",
            "Beetham Estate Gardens",
            "Cocorite (north of Western Main Road)",
            "…"
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "comparison": {
    "availableSeverityValues": [
      3,
      1,
      2
    ],
    "lowestOverallSeverity": 1,
    "highestOverallSeverity": 3,
    "severitySpread": 2,
    "materialDisagreement": true,
    "highestRegionalSeverity": 3,
    "regionalCoverage": {
      "status": "partial",
      "sourcesAvailable": [
        "UK",
        "CA"
      ],
      "sourcesUnavailable": [
        "US"
      ],
      "allRequestedSourcesKnown": false
    },
    "regionalWarningConclusion": "warnings_reported",
    "sourcesWithRegionalWarnings": [
      "CA"
    ],
    "sourcesAtHighestOverallSeverity": [
      "US"
    ]
  },
  "billing": {
    "billable": true,
    "eventName": "destination-lookup",
    "reason": "3 official sources compared"
  }
}

Key fields

Field	Meaning
status	success (all requested sources returned data), partial (at least 2 returned data, at least 1 failed), insufficient_sources (fewer than 2 returned data), invalid_destination
query	Your input, the canonical name, ISO-2/ISO-3 codes and matchMethod (name, alias, iso_code, fuzzy)
advisories[]	One entry per government that returned data
advisories[].nativeLevel / nativeAdvice	The government's own level and wording, unchanged
advisories[].nativeScale	How that government expresses its own levels: numbered (U.S. Levels 1–4) or categorical (U.K. FCDO wording, Canada's named categories)
advisories[].normalizedSeverity.overall	National advisory on the Actor's internal 1–4 scale, for cross-source comparison only. It is not the government's own level: Canada and the U.K. do not number their advisories
advisories[].normalizedSeverity.regionalMax	Most severe regional warning. Kept separate from overall and never merged into it
advisories[].regionalCoverage	available: the source data was enough to determine regional-warning status. unavailable: this source does not provide enough regional detail, so regional status is unknown (see regionalCoverageNote). not_applicable: regional breakdown does not apply
advisories[].regionalWarnings[]	Region, native advice, normalized severity and verbatim details. [] = checked, no regional warnings. null = unknown (regionalCoverage: "unavailable") or omitted (includeRegional: false)
advisories[].riskCategories	Controlled vocabulary: crime, terrorism, kidnapping, civil_unrest, armed_conflict, arbitrary_detention, health, natural_disaster, border_security, maritime, landmines, wrongful_detention, other
advisories[].sourceUrl / sourceUpdatedAt	Official page and the source's own last-updated date
comparison	availableSeverityValues, lowest/highest, severitySpread (max − min), materialDisagreement (spread ≥ 2), highestRegionalSeverity (highest regional severity actually observed; null alone does not mean no regional warnings exist), regionalCoverage (complete / partial / unavailable, with sourcesAvailable and sourcesUnavailable), regionalWarningConclusion, sourcesWithRegionalWarnings, sourcesAtHighestOverallSeverity. regionalWarningConclusion is warnings_reported (at least one source reports a regional warning), none_reported (regional coverage is complete and no source reports one) or unknown_due_to_incomplete_coverage (none observed, but at least one source's regional status is unknown, so absence cannot be concluded)
errors[]	Per-source failures: DESTINATION_NOT_FOUND, UPSTREAM_UNAVAILABLE, UPSTREAM_TIMEOUT, PARSER_FAILED, UNEXPECTED_SOURCE_FORMAT, plus INVALID_DESTINATION
billing	Whether this lookup was charged, and why

Normalized severity scale

Normalized	U.S. State Department	U.K. FCDO	Government of Canada
1 Normal precautions	Level 1: Exercise Normal Precautions	No whole-country "advise against" warning	Take normal security precautions
2 Increased caution	Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution	(no equivalent)	Exercise a high degree of caution
3 Avoid non-essential / reconsider	Level 3: Reconsider Travel	Advises against all but essential travel to the whole country	Avoid non-essential travel
4 Avoid all travel	Level 4: Do Not Travel	Advises against all travel to the whole country	Avoid all travel

The U.K. FCDO has no national level 2. When it warns only about parts of a country, its overall stays 1, and the warnings appear in regionalMax and regionalWarnings. For example, Ukraine shows UK overall: 1, regionalMax: 4. Always read overall together with regionalMax.

Normalized values are a convenience for comparing different government systems. Quote each government's own terms from nativeLevel / nativeAdvice (for example, Canada's "Exercise a high degree of caution", not "Level 2").

Pricing

Pay per event: $0.01 per destination-lookup. You are charged once, only when the lookup compares at least two official sources (success or partial). You are not charged for invalid_destination, insufficient_sources, invalid input or failed runs.

A typical lookup finishes in under a second (live test: median about 0.26 s, slowest about 0.9 s, plus Actor start-up).

Sources and method

Government	Data used	Official page linked
U.S. Department of State	Travel advisories RSS feed travel.state.gov/_res/rss/TAsTWs.xml	travel.state.gov advisory page
U.K. FCDO	GOV.UK Content API www.gov.uk/api/content/foreign-travel-advice/{country}	gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice
Government of Canada	Open data data.international.gc.ca/travel-voyage/cta-cap-{iso}.json	travel.gc.ca/destinations

• Sources are fetched concurrently, with timeouts and up to 3 attempts for transient errors. If one government's site fails, the others' results are still returned.
• Risk categories come only from explicit headings or phrases: U.S. "due to …" summary phrases, U.K. "Safety and security" headings, Canada "Safety and security" headings. Nothing is inferred.
• If a source's format changes, the Actor reports UNEXPECTED_SOURCE_FORMAT / PARSER_FAILED for that source. It never returns empty fields that would look like "no risk".

Limitations

• Current advisories only. No history, monitoring or alerts.
• English only.
• U.S. regional detail comes from the feed summary. For some destinations (e.g. Mexico), the State Department lists states only on its full web page, which blocks automated access. When the feed names no regions, the U.S. entry has regionalCoverage: "unavailable" and regionalWarnings, regionalMax and hasRegionalEscalation are all null (unknown, not "none").
• Some grouped or special destinations are covered by only some governments. Examples are the West Bank and Gaza, the Canary Islands, the Azores and French overseas territories. Expect partial or DESTINATION_NOT_FOUND for some sources.
• This is not travel, legal or insurance advice. Always read the linked official pages before making decisions.

Using it from an AI agent (MCP)

Connect your agent to the Apify MCP server (https://mcp.apify.com) and search for "travel advisory", or add this Actor as a tool directly. Call it with {"destination": "<country>"} and read status, advisories[].normalizedSeverity and comparison.

FAQ

Does it call an LLM? No. Parsing is rule-based, so outputs are reproducible.

Why do the US and UK numbers differ so often? The scales are different. The UK has no "increased caution" national level, and the US level 2 is common. materialDisagreement only flags gaps of two or more levels.

Can I look up several countries? One destination per run, so each lookup is priced and cached independently. Run it once per country.