It looks like the U.S. government is looking to expand the travel bans to several more African nations including Tanzania. This kind of caught me by surprise as I know TZ has had its problems, but I did not hear that they were bad enough to put a travel ban on?

The list of countries is not yet final and could be changed, but nations under consideration for new restrictions include Belarus, Myanmar (also known as Burma), Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, Sudan and Tanzania.

It is a three fold mess:

1. Many of the countries listed have little to no airline security and screening. You can pretty much sneak an elephant on an airline.
2. Document forgery is state sponsored in many of these countries and a big industry in the rest.
3. Islamic Radicalism is rife on the African continent with sub-Saharan Africa the new recruiting ground. Tanzania is increasingly becoming radicalized along with some areas of SA.

Add all three together and these are folks we really don't want on aircraft headed to the US.

Are the travel bans mandatory for US citizens or merely recommended?

A draft being considered by the Trump administration would place immigration restrictions on the additional seven countries, but not necessarily completely ban all citizens of those nations from entering the United States. The restrictions could apply only to certain government officials, for instance, or certain types of visas.

So far this has more to do with folks coming here with Visas.

Right now for tourists it's - "Exercise increased caution in Tanzania due to crime, terrorism, and targeting of LGBTI persons.."

Got news for the government. I'm booked in 2021 and I'm going. Last I heard, unless the Democrats win next year, it's still a free country.

My understanding is this has no effect on tourist travel.

Mark

The world will continue to function, despite America's dire warning!