“We must travel in the direction of our fear,” John Berryman, the American poet, wrote 60 years ago. In the 21st century, it seems, more British travellers are in tune with this sentiment. Certainly the number of trips offered by tour operators to dangerous countries has grown — you can now book next year’s holiday to Angola, Afghanistan, Niger, Congo or Iraqi Kurdistan.

“We have had a 100 per cent increase in inquiries about trips to these sorts of destinations in the past two years,” says Jonny Bealby, of the adventure travel company Wild Frontiers. “We flag up the Foreign and Commonwealth travel advice proscribing travel to certain regions, but (our travellers) have almost always read it, understood it and ignored it.”

The irony is that the Government’s FCO travel advice has never been so thorough. This public service provides advice on 217 countries and territories; there are currently warnings in place for 44 of them. The website receives 400,000 visitors a month.

A major review in 2004 led to improvements in the way information was produced and presented. The “Know Before You Go” campaign has spread useful advice via television, the travel industry, guides compiled with Lonely Planet and Rough Guides, and student travel ambassadors.

Rob Macaire, director of consular services at the Foreign Office, says: “The travel advice needs constant attention, and a review group meets regularly with stakeholders. However, we don’t have a monopoly on knowledge. We are aware that people and businesses would like a clear, green light saying travel to a country is safe, but this is rarely possible. The best available information is sometimes imprecise.”

For some niche British tour operators, these imprecise details remain a source of frustration. “Take Kyrgyzstan,” says Jonny Bealby. “Earlier this year, the FCO advised against travel to the south and west of the city of Osh. Now is that south and west or south-west? We did get clarification and the advice was changed, but it took four months. It was a small point, but if you were travelling south-east of Osh, it was crucial, not least for people who have a travel insurance policy with an FCO caveat, which means the policy is voided if you are travelling contrary to FCO advice.”

For Geoff Hann, of Hinterland Travel, Foreign Office travel advice and insurance is a knotty problem: “We run trips to Iran, Iraqi Kurdistan, Kashmir and Afghanistan, and we will be taking groups back to Iraq as soon as possible. Almost all insurers will refuse to cover you if the FCO advises against visiting. Personally, I think the FCO should only report. It shouldn’t proscribe. But we always find one or two niche insurance companies that won’t pass the buck, that don’t insist on an FCO caveat in a policy.”

One solution is insuring with a company that does not use British underwriters. This will save you ringing a high-street insurance company call centre to ask if the Kalash Valley is considered to be inside the Pakistan/Afghanistan border “tribal territories” proscribed by the FCO. To which the most likely reply will be: “Whatever.”

To some, these sweeping insurance policy caveats and the manner in which the FCO travel advice is handed down show that tourists are viewed in isolation. “The idea of the fat halfwit in a flowery sunhat is out of date,” Bealby says. “Our clients are often as well informed as the aid workers, journalists and even diplomats we bump into on the trips. In many cases, FCO advice is bang-on: Nepal and Ethiopia are good examples. In others, a fire blanket has been used to put a match out.”

The FCO has an unenviable job. If its advice is too relaxed, the media ridicules it when there is an incident, such as the Bali terrorist bomb in 2002. If the warnings are over-zealous, the travel industry and the countries concerned complain. “When it comes to terrorism, we have a rigorous process by which intelligence is assessed before changes are made to travel advice,” Macaire says.

“All intelligence goes through a single analysis point, and travel advice can change instantaneously. It is a 24/7 operation. However, there is such a wide range of risks now and assessing nebulous terror threats is difficult. Only in the most extreme cases do we advise against all travel because of a threat. The way forward is to give accurate descriptions and allow people to decide for themselves.”

Wild Frontiers, though, has decided to suspend trips to Afghanistan until next spring. Bealby says: “It’s not that we feel there is a much greater risk to our clients now, but that we feel it inappropriate to be sending people on holiday to a country where British troops are involved in war, and taking casualties.”

Safety catch

TO GO or not to go? It is a tricky question, particularly when governments offer varying advice.

Following the outbreak of fighting in Sri Lanka between security forces and the Liberation Tigers in July, the FCO advised “against all travel to the north or east” and noted the “high threat from terrorism”. The New Zealand Government went a step further: “There is a high risk to security as the situation is unpredictable.” Canada, too, advised against all non-essential travel.

Surprisingly, perhaps, the US State Department was less cautious: “While most of the country remains largely unaffected, the department warns Americans against travelling to areas in the north and east.”

Further information: FCO www.fco.gov.uk/travel. Wild Frontiers: 020-7736 3968, www.wildfrontiers.co.uk. Hinterland Travel: 01883 743584, www.hinterlandtravel.com.