Commonwealth Labels 24  Places "Too Dangerous" For Tourists

This year, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office added eight additional areas to its list of places deemed "too dangerous" for citizens of the United Kingdom to travel to, making a total of 24 countries and locations "banned." 

To keep UK nationals safe when they travel abroad, the Foreign Office publishes travel advisories for every country. It offers guidance on issues that can endanger visitors to the UK, such as disease, conflict terrorism, crime, weather, and natural disasters. 

The most recent version lists 24 nations or places that UK nationals are strongly encouraged to stay away from. Places added to the list this year are Russia, Ukraine, Iran, Sudan, Lebanon, Israel, Belarus, and the Palestinian territories. 

The destinations are involved in major conflicts that could pose a serious risk to anyone visiting. The blacklist now includes Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Haiti, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, Niger, North Korea, Somalia, Somaliland, South Sudan, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen. 

The list equates to a fifth of the world in terms of landmass. As well as the black list, there is also a red list where travel should be avoided 'unless essential'. 

The list of 42 countries includes all or parts of Algeria, Angola, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Ecuador, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Jordan, Kenya, Kosovo, Laos, Malaysia, Mauritania, Mexico, Moldova, Mozambique, Myanmar(Burma), Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Republic of Congo, Saudi Arabia, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Western Sahara.