MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica – Two months before my planned trip to Jamaica, the U.S. State Department advised Americans to “reconsider travel” to the popular Caribbean nation.
I considered their advice and I went anyway.
It did give me pause, however, and prompted me to make a few adjustments to the trip.
First, I bought travel insurance for this trip – which I might have done anyway, but the travel advisory confirmed its necessity. Second, I employed a local guide to show me around, rather than exploring on my own. Again, I might have done this anyway, but the travel advisory made it a priority.
The result: I had a great trip, did everything I wanted (and more) and never felt unsafe (well, except perhaps on some of those narrow, windy inland roads alongside some crazy local drivers).
I met plenty of American travelers, however, who were pretty spooked about the updated advisory. Some said they considered canceling their trips. Others said they didn’t feel comfortable venturing from their resorts.
Business owners on the island told me they were already feeling the effects of the advisory.
“Even people who are coming aren’t leaving the resorts,” said Simon Browne, whose family owns YS Falls, a popular waterfall and swimming area on the south side of Jamaica. “It’s been a quiet March.”
Milton Williams, who cooks jerk chicken and other delights along the highway between Montego Bay and Negril, was also feeling the loss of business.
“Lots of people have canceled their vacations,” he told me, as I feasted on his chicken.
I was glad I wasn’t one of them.
What the State Department said
The State Department uses a four-point scale to assess the safety of travel to every country in the world. Level 1 is the safest (“exercise normal precautions”) and Level 4 is the most dangerous (“do not travel”).
In March 2022, Jamaica was elevated from Level 2 (“exercise increased caution”) to Level 3 (“reconsider travel”).
In January, the State Department updated its advisory with additional details about areas of concern, citing specifically crime and medical services in the country.
A spokeswoman for the State Department called the update “routine” and said there was no specific incident that spurred the advisory. She said the crime information remains substantively unchanged from the previous advisory.
Routine or not, the media reported the update as major news, sparking concern about travel to the country during the busy winter and spring vacation season.
Indeed, the language included in the advisory is enough to give any traveler pause. “Violent crimes, such as home invasions, armed robberies, sexual assaults, and homicides, are common,” it reads. “Sexual assaults occur frequently, including at all-inclusive resorts.”
It continues, “Local police often do not respond effectively to serious criminal incidents. When arrests are made, cases are infrequently prosecuted to a conclusive sentence. Families of U.S. citizens killed in accidents or homicides frequently wait a year or more for final death certificates to be issued by Jamaican authorities. The homicide rate reported by the Government of Jamaica has for several years been among the highest in the Western Hemisphere.”
It goes on to list specific geographic areas of concern, and strongly encourages travelers to obtain traveler’s insurance, including medical evacuation insurance, before traveling to Jamaica.
In response to the advisory, the Jamaican Tourist Board noted that crime involving visitors “remains extremely low at 0.01%,” adding, “Jamaica has recorded its lowest crime rate in 24 years in 2023 and this downward trajectory has continued in 2024.”
It’s worth noting that other countries that issue travel advisories to their citizens have not change their guidance on Jamaica in recent years.
Canada, for example, has a similar four-point system for assessing danger. Jamaica is a level 2 (“exercise a high degree of caution”), which is the same as for the Dominican Republic, the Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago and other Caribbean nations.
Both the United States and Canada cite Jamaica’s high crime rate as among the reasons for concern.
Indeed, Jamaica does have one of the highest murder rates in the world. But both locals and security experts point out that violence in Jamaica is almost never targeted at tourists.
“Jamaicans often told me – Jamaica is only dangerous for Jamaicans,” said Paul Doucet, security director at International SOS, a private health and security service firm.
Doucet visited Jamaica in February, shortly after the State Department updated its advisory, to see for himself whether anything had changed in Jamaica to warrant increased concern.
His conclusion: “It’s fine to go to Jamaica with an understanding of the areas to avoid.”
He added, “We haven’t changed our advice. We haven’t seen any reason to change our advice.”
Doucet acknowledged the country’s high crime rate, but said everyone – from the government to gang members – understands it’s not smart to target tourists, who contributed $4.3 billion to the nation’s economy in 2023.
“No one has an interest in seeing tourism decline,” said Doucet.
He also said that the country’s high homicide rate probably isn’t the best statistic for concerned travelers to worry about. Sexual assaults, carjackings and short-term kidnappings (which he noted are not a problem in Jamaica) are typically a bigger concern for tourists on vacation.
“There’s actually been an improvement in crime in Jamaica,” he said, although he noted that the numbers are subject to underreporting.
Lee Weinstock, a Shaker Heights native who runs a tourism business in Montego Bay, said he has been a victim of crime twice in Jamaica in more than 30 years. His apartment was broken into once, as was his car.
He speculates that there might be a political motivation for the State Department advisory – that it’s a way for the U.S. government to register its discontent with increasing Chinese investment in Jamaica, or disapproval of Jamaica’s anti-LGBTQ laws and policies.
The spokeswoman for the State Department denied that there were political reasons for the update. “This analysis is undertaken without regard to bilateral political or economic considerations,” she said.
She provided this explanation about the process: “Travel Advisories are based on a comprehensive and objective review of safety and security conditions, and ongoing developments that could affect the lives and interests of U.S. citizens abroad. We consider many factors to determine the Travel Advisory level for each country, including crime, terrorist activity, civil unrest, kidnapping or hostage taking, health risks, natural disasters/weather, and current events. The information we use to formulate Travel Advisories is collected from a range of sources, such as crime statistics and other publicly-available information, and information gathered from U.S. government sources, including assessments by our embassies and consulates abroad.”
I asked Doucet if the safety I felt in Jamaica was a good gauge of how safe I actually was.
“If you’re traveling around and didn’t go into areas you shouldn’t go, you probably were safe,” he said.
He noted that he spent some time in downtown Montego Bay – not an area where most tourists visit – and didn’t feel particularly safe.
“It was crowded,” he said. “There were a lot people who looked like they didn’t have enough to do.”
Common sense, he said, goes a long way in Jamaica and elsewhere.
“Don’t flash around money,” he said. “Don’t hold three iPhones in your hands.”
Being cautious, however, doesn’t mean being fearful.
Nicole Tutzer from Bainbridge Township traveled to Jamaica last month with her 18-year-old daughter Annika. “They told us – don’t leave the resort by yourself,” said Tutzer, who was staying at the resort next to mine in Montego Bay.
She and her daughter walked across the street to buy water shoes and bug spray and felt perfectly safe.
I, too, left my resort every day – both on foot and with licensed drivers – and also never felt remotely unsafe.
Needless to say, I didn’t visit the areas that were outlined in the State Department advisory, which are well known to locals as areas to avoid.
Honestly, there are plenty of areas in and around Cleveland that I know to avoid, particularly at night and when I’m alone. It seems obvious to use that same commonsense approach when I travel.
Safety in Jamaica
In addition to recommending travel insurance, the State Department offers these suggestions to Americans traveling to Jamaica:
* Avoid walking or driving at night.
* Avoid public buses.
* Do not physically resist any robbery attempt.
* Be aware of your surroundings and keep a low profile.
* Do not attempt to bring firearms or ammunition into the country.
* Enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive alerts and make it easier to locate you in an emergency.
Information: travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/jamaica-travel-advisory.html
Read more:
5 days in Jamaica, from Negril to Montego Bay, beaches, bamboo rafting and waterfalls
Will this new Frontier flight from Cleveland to the Caribbean last? Enjoy it while you can
How a guy from Shaker Heights built a 30-year tourism career in Jamaica
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