Jamaica’s state of emergency may threaten its tourism industry as crime continues to increase in the country and local authorities struggle to clamp down on it.
“Local police lack the resources to respond effectively to serious criminal incidents,” the advisory stated. “Emergency services vary throughout the island, and response times may vary from U.S. standards. The homicide rate reported by the Government of Jamaica has for several years been among the highest in the Western Hemisphere.”Jamaica appeared to acknowledge the severity of its problem by declaring a state of emergency on Nov.
Tourism provides Jamaica its main source of income, accounting for as much as 29% of the country’s GDP in 2019 according to Statista, and tied with remittances . Jamaica welcomed more than 1.5 million tourists in 2021 who spent more than $2.095 billion, according to the Caribbean Tourism Organization.
“In years past, the State Department, depending on the political situation, was sometimes reluctant to even issue a warning,” Katz told Fox News Digital, explaining that an advisory alone can hurt the economy and is “not generally well received by the subject of the advisory.” “I ask people all the time: Where are you going to go to? Do they have a professional fire department? What are the traffic laws? What are the statistics for fatal traffic accidents?” Katz said, adding that “statistically, the greatest number of Americans who are either seriously injured or killed overseas [is] as a result of traffic accidents.”
Maybe fdudeau will get mugged
No thanks, my mom and dad were at a beautiful resort about 20 years ago, and my dad was walking down to the beach and somebody threw a rock at him and it hit him in the back… Thank God it didn’t hit him in the head
I was assaulted in Jamaica and I will never go back.
Don't worry it will become safer as the thugs 'migrate' through our open border to setup shop in the US for more opportunities.
It surprised. Went once 30yrs ago. Couldn’t pay me to go back again.
I’ve been to Jamaica and I can safely say I never want to go again and it isn’t just because of the high crime.
Kingston is still safer than NYC.
Oh my!!!
what do all these crime ridden cesspools have in common?