LOS ANGELES, May 18 (Xinhua) -- As mass shootings rise in the United States, despite its relative safety, other nations are highlighting the dangers of gun violence for would-be travelers, Yahoo News reported Wednesday.
At least seven nations have issued advisories to their citizens who intend on traveling to the United States, citing serious safety concerns in recent years, said the report, noting that New Zealand, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, France, Venezuela and Uruguay have each urged precaution for travelers when visiting the United States, due in large part to gun violence.
There have been more than 200 mass shootings in the United States so far this year, said the report, citing the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit organization that tracks gun violence in the country. In each of the last three years, there have been more than 600 mass shootings in the United States, or about two each day.
The threat of gun violence in conjunction with the perceived lack of security within the United States is increasingly seen as a safety concern by both American citizens and would-be tourists. Though the chances of a tourist in the United States becoming a victim of gun violence remain low, experts say "perception is reality," according to the report.
"If people perceive they are not safe in the U.S. they will not visit," Simon Hudson, a professor of tourism at the University of South Carolina, was quoted as saying by the report.
The report pointed out that the 2022 Global Peace Index, which measures the peacefulness of countries and is made up of 23 quantitative and qualitative indicators, ranks the United States the 129th out of 163 countries. ■
