Since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term in the White House, the current administration has targeted more than a dozen separate African countries with heightened travel restrictions.
Somalia, Sudan, Eritrea, Chad, the Republic of Congo, and Equatorial Guinea are included in the complete travel ban that President Trump signed in June 2025, while citizens of Burundi, Sierra Leone, and Togo are on the larger list of nations whose citizens are restricted from applying for certain types of student and business visas.
At the start of August, the U.S. State Department additionally started requiring that citizens of Malawi and Zambia pay a bond of $15,000 before being granted several types of visas.
The travel advisory it issued for South Africa was also tweaked to focus more heavily on crime after a heated White House meeting between Presidents Trump and Cyril Ramaphosa back in May.
“Crime, civil unrest, and inadequate health infrastructure”: U.S. travel advisory for Sierra Leone
Last week, the State Department has updated its travel advisory for another African nation.
Bordering the Atlantic Ocean on the west and Guinea and Liberia to the north and south, the West African country of Sierra Leone is commonly associated with a devastating Civil War that took place between 1991 and 2002.
“Exercise increased caution in Sierra Leone due to crime, civil unrest, and inadequate health infrastructure,” the update made on Sept. 15 now reads. “Violent crimes, such as robbery and assault, occur frequently in Sierra Leone, especially in Freetown. Police struggle to respond to serious crime in most places due to limited resources.”
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The official advisory rating for Sierra Leone remains at level two’s “exercise increased caution” that is also given to countries such as Italy, Germany, and China for varying reasons. The wording used for Sierra Leone, however, is significantly more alarmist, as it draws attention to different types of violent crime.
Travelers are advised against going outside the capital of city of Freetown at night and told that consular assistance may not be available if they venture farther into rural areas.
Image source: Shutterstock
Amid struggles with post-war future, tourism to Sierra Leone is on the rise
“Demonstrations and protests occur in Sierra Leone and occasionally result in violence,” the advisory reads further. “Protests can happen with little to no warning. They often develop around political issues, large events, or holidays.”
But while the nation is still strongly associated with its war-torn past, Sierra Leone has taken a number of steps to rebuild and bring in tourism over the last half-decade. According to numbers published by its government, the 127,177 international arrivals who came to the country in 2024 represent a 7% increase from 2023.
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Tourism Minister Nabeela Tunis is the one who launched the 10-year National Strategic Tourism Plan aimed at promoting the country as a travel destination through everything from white-sand beaches and pristine islands to its ties to Hollywood actor Idris Elba (Elba was raised in London, but his father was born in the country).
Sierra Leone is often described as an underexplored and poorly promoted tourist destination that has all the potential to see both developer and traveler interest in the coming years.
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