The U.S. Department of State just introduced a new indicator to warn travelers about potential kidnapping risks when abroad.

The new advisory indicator aims to warn travelers of the risks they face of kidnapping, hostage taking and other abduction-based crimes by criminal and terrorist actors around the world. The danger is marked by a “K” on the travel advisory page for a specific country.

The state department issues travel advisories for every country. It uses factors such as local crime levels, terrorism, civil unrest, natural disasters, overall health of the region and other potential risks to deliver an advisory ranging from one through four, with four denoting the department’s explicit recommendation to not travel.

The new kidnapping warning was immediately applied to 35 countries, including Afghanistan, Mexico, the Russian Federation, the Philippines, Venezuela and more. You can see the travel advisories for every country online.

“The U.S. Department of State has no greater responsibility than the safety and welfare of Americans overseas. The Bureau of Consular Affairs works closely with the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs and the entire U.S. interagency to serve and protect Americans overseas and to prevent and resolve cases of kidnapping and hostage taking,” the department said.

The new marker can be viewed when looking at a specific country’s travel advisory guide in the top-right portion of the page. Individual country pages include tips for travel to dangerous territories.

Are you surprised the agency introduced a new indicator to warn travelers? Have you ever traveled somewhere with a travel advisory more dangerous than the baseline? Tell us. Email us at letters@globaltravelerusa.com. Please include your full name and location.