Travel

Countries around the world warn citizens against traveling to safer-than-ever US

America is safer than ever — but more and more countries are warning their citizens not to travel to the US out of an inflated fear of terrorism, mass shootings and natural disasters.

The national crime rate has plummeted in the last two decades, the chance of dying in a mass shooting is less than 1 in 100,000, and, according to the Cato Institute, Americans are far more likely to die choking than at the hands of a terrorist.

New York, in particular, is enjoying record-low rates of murder and shootings — making it far safer than London, where you’re nearly six times more likely to suffer a burglary, and three times more likely to be raped, stats show.

But you wouldn’t think it to hear the paranoid warnings some governments are issuing about traveling to the US.

This month, the Canadian government updated the safety and security section of its travel advisory for the States, warning, somewhat breathlessly, that guns and violent crime are common in America.

“The possession of firearms and the frequency of violent crime are generally more prevalent in the US than in Canada,” the alert reads.

And don’t even think of traveling to Napa Valley, for fear of a sudden conflagration.

Canada is warning against “non-essential travel” to California wine country, where wildfires recently burned over 245,000 acres of land.

Meanwhile, the United Kingdom warned its citizens about the “fragile” environment in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands in the wake of Hurricanes Irma and Maria.

The UK travel advisory for the United States, which was updated earlier this month, also says travelers should “remain vigilant” about potential terrorist attacks.

“Terrorists are very likely to try to carry out attacks in the USA,” the government’s travel page warns. “Attacks could be indiscriminate, including in places visited by foreigners.”

On Oct. 3, the day after the Las Vegas massacre, the bureaucrats at the New Zealand government’s Safe Travel site nervously warned: “Active-shooter incidents occur from time to time in the United States.”

The nervous Nellies at Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade also posted a warning about mass shootings.

The States have “witnessed a number of” them in recent years, they notify would-be travelers.

“There is an increased threat of terrorism and extremist violence worldwide and this should be borne in mind by Irish citizens living and working in the USA,” Ireland’s warning adds.

But turnabout is fair play: the US government currently has a travel alert out for Europe.

It warns, “US citizens should always be alert to the possibility that terrorist sympathizers or self-radicalized extremists may conduct attacks with little or no warning.”