Template:Warningbox – Travel guide at Wikivoyage

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When to use

This template is meant for non-obvious dangers to life and limb, and should be used sparingly. If a government agency has listed a travel warning for an area (see #Travel advisories), a warning box is appropriate. Other appropriate uses include:

"civil war in this region"
"military launched coup d'état"
"devastated by earthquake last week"
"Ebola virus outbreak"
"death penalty for marijuana possession"

Warningboxes can be used in the immediate aftermath of natural disasters, but should be removed as soon as the destination becomes reachable again (airports open, hotels available, no more plague victims). Be sure to use the warningbox to provide specific information relevant to travellers rather than a generic warning: "Area damaged by earthquakes" is less helpful than "Hotels and transportation infrastructure in the downtown area have been damaged by the November 2012 earthquake and may not be available, although the suburbs remain mostly unaffected".

Do not use this for minor announcements ("closed for repairs"), minor dangers ("fine for littering", "do not feed the monkeys"), obvious dangers ("do not walk on expressways", "do not wander down dark alleys while intoxicated"), or for news events that have short-term impact and will not affect those planning travel ("hostage situation in the town hall today", "50-car accident on the freeway this afternoon").

Dating

Warnings should be dated as, in times of natural or man-made disaster, the situation on the ground and available information change rapidly. For instance, an initial:

	WARNING: Stop trains. Munitions ship on fire. Approaching Pier 6. Goodbye.

	(Information last updated 06 Dec 1917)

will attract multiple updates from other editors as the extent of the devastation becomes known and aid is urgently dispatched to rebuild the shattered city. The article will be added to Category:Has warning box with out of date warning when six months have passed since the date in the lastedit field, which should have been updated in those subsequent edits, and when somebody just checked that the warning is still valid.

Usage

Article placement

If the danger affects the entire region, the warning box can be placed at the very top of the article. If the danger is localized or avoidable, place it under "Stay safe" or on top of the localized page.

Template usage

This template adds mainspace pages with warnings to Category:Has warning box.

If no lastedit entered will also add page to Category:Has warning box with no date.

lastedit=permanent can be used if warning not time limited.

If lastedit older than 6 months will also add page to Category:Has warning box with out of date warning

The template can be invoked as follows:

{{warningbox
| '''Regions affected:''' Northern [[Baja California]], [[Sonora]], [[Chihuahua]], [[Nuevo Leon]], and [[Tamaulipas]]<br>A travel advisory was issued April 22, 2011 due to more than 15,000 narcotics-related homicides that occurred in 2010. Most of those killed in narcotics-related violence since 2006 have been members of transnational criminal organizations. The Mexican government makes a considerable effort to protect visitors to major tourist destinations, and resort areas and tourist destinations in Mexico generally do not see the levels of drug-related violence and crime reported in the border region and in areas along major trafficking routes. Nevertheless, crime and violence are serious problems and can occur anywhere.
| us=http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/alertswarnings/mexico-travel-warning.html
| lastedit=2015-08-26
}}

...which produces the following warning box:

	WARNING: Regions affected: Northern Baja California, Sonora, Chihuahua, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas A travel advisory was issued April 22, 2011 due to more than 15,000 narcotics-related homicides that occurred in 2010. Most of those killed in narcotics-related violence since 2006 have been members of transnational criminal organizations. The Mexican government makes a considerable effort to protect visitors to major tourist destinations, and resort areas and tourist destinations in Mexico generally do not see the levels of drug-related violence and crime reported in the border region and in areas along major trafficking routes. Nevertheless, crime and violence are serious problems and can occur anywhere.
	Government travel advisories United States
	(Information last updated 26 Aug 2015)

To add advisories, insert full, direct URLs of a government's country specific information using one or more of the following template parameters:

Australia: australia
Belgium: be
Canada: canada
Germany: de
France: fr
Hong Kong: hk
Ireland: ie
India: india
Netherlands: nl
New Zealand: nz
China: prc
Singapore: sg
South Africa: southafrica
United Kingdom: uk
United States: us

To add last updated dates, insert a date in the YYYY-MM-DD format after adding a lastedit template parameter. You should update the lastedit date every time you change the information in the warning or check the information and it is still accurate.

Only add a lastedit parameter on warning boxes with information likely to change or go out of date quickly. For example, a destination with a war currently ongoing, like Syria or where there has been a natural disaster recently, like a major flood or hurricane.

Travel advisories

The template allows the addition of government travel advisories. Use the following links to help find URLs of official advisories on government websites.

Australia: See Smartraveller
Austria: See BMEIA (in German)
Belgium: See Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs (in Dutch and French)
Brazil: See Portal Consular (in Portuguese)
Canada: See Travel.gc.ca (in English and French)
China: occasionally mentions travel alerts in a "Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Regular Press Conference" at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, e.g.: here - "...the Chinese government has lifted all "travel alert" on the Philippines...".
Denmark: See Um.dk (in Danish)
European Union: See Consular Protection
Finland: See Matkustustiedotteet (in Finnish and Swedish)
France: See www.diplomatie.gouv.fr
Germany: See Auswärtiges Amt Reisewarnungen
Hong Kong: See Outbound Travel Alert
India: See mea.gov.in travel advisories, and press releases.
Ireland: See Dfa.ie
Italy: See Viaggiare Sicuri (in Italian)
Malta: See Foreign and EU
Netherlands: See Nederland Wereldwijd.nl
New Zealand: See Safetravel.govt.nz
Singapore posts travel advisories on https://www.mfa.gov.sg/Where-Are-You-Travelling-To
South Africa: The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (dirco.gov.za) posts a limited amount of information.
United Kingdom: See Foreign & Commonwealth Office
United States:
- US State Department travel warnings
- Center for Disease Control travel health notices

Parameter		Description	Type	Status
Warning text	`1`	no description	String	required
australia	`australia` `au`	no description	URL	optional
be	`be`	no description	URL	optional
canada	`canada` `ca`	no description	URL	optional
de	`de`	no description	URL	optional
fr	`fr`	no description	URL	optional
india	`india` `in`	no description	URL	optional
nz	`nz`	no description	URL	optional
nl	`nl`	no description	URL	optional
southafrica	`southafrica` `za`	no description	URL	optional
uk	`uk`	no description	URL	optional
us	`us`	no description	URL	optional
ie	`ie`	no description	URL	optional
prc	`prc`	no description	URL	optional
hk	`hk`	no description	URL	optional
Lastedit	`lastedit`	Date the information was last updated in YYYY-MM-DD format	Date	suggested