As the State Department's job is to protect the safety of citizens abroad, some of the advisories it sends out for places that hundreds of thousands visit without incident can appear alarmist.
At the start of 2024, the government agency reissued the rating asking Americans to "reconsider travel" to Jamaica amid rising crime and a homicide rate that "is among the highest in the Western Hemisphere." At the same time, the country commonly associated with Bob Marley, rastafarian culture and pristine beaches had seen a record of over three million arrivals from the U.S. in 2023 while Delta Air Lines (DAL) had earlier named Montego Bay as one of the cities seeing the biggest spikes in tourism demand.
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While the U.S. government still sees Jamaica as a level three country on a system that ranges from level one's "exercise normal precautions" to level four's "avoid all travel," it recently updated the description on its website to include slightly softer language — in particular, the clarification that "tourist areas generally see lower rates of violent crime than other parts of the country."
Traveling to Jamaica? Here is what you need to know about the updated advisory
This type of review is done every six months for countries designated levels three and four — the highest level of advisory is usually reserved for nations with authoritarian governments and active war zones. At the same time, the State Department reminded travelers to be careful regardless of where in the country they are as "the U.S. Embassy routinely receives reports of sexual assaults, including from U.S. citizen tourists at resorts."
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"U.S. citizens report slow or unsatisfactory response to serious criminal incidents," the description reads further. "When arrests are made, cases are infrequently prosecuted to a final verdict and sentence."
When the State Department first declared Jamaica a "level three destination" back in January it received pushback from local authorities and tourism industry insiders. Jamaican Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister Johnson Smith issued a statement saying that "in recent years the Government has more than doubled its investments to strengthen our capacity to tackle crime and health-related challenges across the island for the benefit of our citizens and indeed everyone who wishes to visit Jamaica."
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Despite certain problems, Jamaica remains an extremely popular tourist destination
The local tourism board for the island also stressed that the crime rate against visitors "remains extremely low at 0.01%."
Safety tips suggested by the State Department include making sure that one has proper travel insurance before embarking on the trip as "air service to the United States can range from $30,000-$50,000" and registering on the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) so that the government has a record of where one is should contact with family get lost.
"Avoid walking or driving at night," the advisory reads further. "Avoid public buses. Avoid secluded places or situations." Even if traveling in a personal capacity, those who work for the U.S. government in any capacity are prohibited from going to parts of the country such as St. Catherine's Parish, Clarendon Paris and St. Elizabeth's Parish due to the elevated risk of kidnapping as a representative of the United States.
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