Ministry travel advice has lost its way

Travel agents have warned that New Zealand's travel advice service is not up to scratch, prompting the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to promise that improvements are on the way.

Travel agents yesterday called for the ministry to urgently overhaul its service that provides New Zealanders travelling overseas with travel safety information and security advisories about countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

Flight Centre general manager Jeremy van de Klundert said New Zealand's service needed to be brought in line with Australia's, which has a website specifically for travel advisories and travel information.

New Zealand's travel advisories are found within the ministry's website.

Mr van de Klundert said the Australian Government had shown its commitment to the project by earmarking $9.7 million over five years on promoting the Smart Traveller programme.

He said an increasing number of New Zealanders were travelling overseas and a growing number were booking their holidays on the internet, making it important for them to easily access travel information.

Corporate travel specialist Christian Casbolt said there was also a need for detailed information about regions within countries so businesses could assess risk before planning overseas trips.

"As well as country reports, we want to know, say, if Cape Town is safer than Johannesburg, or how safe Bangkok is, rather than just certain parts of Thailand. This level of detail is something business travellers need to know," Mr Casbolt said.

The ministry said a project to upgrade its website travel advice service had been under way since November. Rosemary Paterson, director of the ministry's consular division, said one of the changes being considered was a stand-alone travel information website.

Ms Paterson said Australia's travel advisory service differed from New Zealand's in the range of information it provided.

"We do not provide general travel information. Our advisories are focused on security concerns such as terrorism and civil unrest.

"Our security advice is broadly consistent with Australia's."

Ms Paterson said the ministry planned to seek the views of the travel industry as the service was revised.

A ministry spokeswoman said there was a "modest" budget for the project

TRAVEL ADVICE: HOW THEY COMPARE (links below)

Australia

* One stop website smartraveller.gov.au that deals with all travel information, including information on travel insurance, visas and getting help overseas.

* Website includes a register for Australians travelling overseas so they can be contacted in an emergency.

* Offers a service to email people travel advisories.

* Highlights dangerous regions within countries.

* Has five levels of travel advisory ranging from "Be alert to own security" through to "Do not travel". 

New Zealand 

* Travel advice contained within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade website.

* Offers a service to email people travel advisories.

* Has three levels of travel advisory: Some risk, high risk and extreme risk.