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Caribbean visitors facing extortion
Jamaica: Newspaper reports that tourists are plagued by harassers
The twin threat of harassment and extortion are preventing many tourists from visiting Jamaican beauty spots, according to one of the country’s newspapers.
The Jamaican Gleaner reports that visitors to the Roaring River area of the island have been “plagued”, while it has received many letters from correspondents who claim incidents of visitor harassment take “a new chapter every year”.
The newspaper’s online site says tourists are confronted by harassers, sometimes on motorbikes, demanding money for escort services to visitor attractions in the area. It says verbal abuse of visitors is “commonplace” and many tourists claim to have been scared away.
The Roaring River area of Jamaica, which was set aside as an area that would be used as a pilot for “community tourism”, is not on the main tourist route and tends to be ignored in many guides. However, the newspaper points out that “tourism authorities should realise that visitors have access to the Internet and can spread the word, good or bad, about places they have visited. For the latest Foreign Office advice for visitors to Jamaica, visit www.fco.gov.uk/travel.
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