Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs has raised its threat warning level for those planning to visit Great Britain.

In response to the UK’s own increase in its terror threat level to critical, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade warned travellers to exercise a high degree of caution in the UK.

Since the current advisory system took effect in 2011, the advice for the UK has been “exercise normal precautions”.

Deakin University counter-terrorism expert Greg Barton said DFAT had no choice but to act on this occasion, after the UK’s own increase in terror threat level.

“The UK is obviously working on the scenario that there are other attacks in the planning,” said Professor Barton.

“The increase in their security level will allow them to put police into investigative roles and have their security roles on the street filled by the military.

“As a close ally, Australia would have been briefed and upgraded its own advisories accordingly.”

Whether the second terrorist attack on British soil in two months would deter Australian travellers, remained to be seen, Prof Barton said.

“I would be surprised if it makes a big difference, but I think it will make a difference to what they do when they get there,” he said.

“They might be a bit more careful but I don’t think it’s going to change behaviours a lot.”

Tourism lecturer at the University of Technology Sydney, David Beirman, said countries like the UK and France tended to be more resilient than places like Turkey.

“We have a very high level of familiarity with Britain and some people will have second thoughts but it won’t stop tourists going there,” said Dr Beirman.

“In the case of France, tourism numbers went down about one per cent last year, whereas in Turkey, numbers halved from 41.5 million to about 20 million.”

He said it would mean countries like Japan, the US and Australia would see further increases in international visitors because of their perception as “safe destinations”.

“Research by Tourism Australia has found safety and security is the first priority for travellers when choosing a destination,” Dr Beirman said.

“Before we had this spate of terrorism around the world, it might’ve been third or fourth. Now the first thing we think about is, is it safe?”