Considering the violence, potential visitors wonder whether or not to skip Jamaica. The answer: maybe or it all depends on where you’re going.
"When I talk to a new client, I’ll say to them, ‘What do you like, what don’t you like, and before we start working on this process, are there any places you won’t consider?’ Ninety-eight percent of them say to me Jamaica,” said agent Terry McCabe, National director of leisure for Altour.
Crime, including violent crime, is a serious problem in Jamaica, according to the US State Department. The primary concern for tourists: theft. The site adds that in several cases, armed robberies of Americans have turned violent.
Still, 1.8 million tourists came to Jamaica last year — about two-thirds of them from the United States, according to the Caribbean Tourism Organization.
Since the unrest began in Kingston, travel agents like Becky Veith with Travel Experts in Erie, Pennsylvania, have been getting lots of questions from worried clients who are scheduled to vacation on the island in the upcoming days and weeks.
"I have clients who are going to Jamaica in June, and they e-mailed me and said, ‘What should we do, should we cancel our trip because of the civil unrest in Kingston?’ " Veith said. She added:
"I e-mailed them back and said no. … I wouldn’t be afraid to go to Montego Bay. I wouldn’t go to Kingston, though, but I wouldn’t go to Kingston at any time." Aggressive street vendors at times discourage visitors to Kingston.
Travel agents emphasized that the capital is several hours away by car from the resort areas and that few travelers ever make the city a destination.
"It’s virtually nonexistent on the tourist level," McCabe said. Most people who fly into Kingston visit friends and relatives or are there for business, she added.
The city has a history of some unrest, added Brooke Ferencsik, a spokesman for TripAdvisor.com.
Travel experts urged travelers to Jamaica to follow the situation closely, but not to let the turmoil in Kingston automatically taint the rest of the island.
They compared the situation to recent violence in Mexico, which has been centered near the country’s border with the United States but has affected tourism in Cancun and other popular spots far away from the unrest.
By David Wilkening
