Travel alert: Guests urged to ‘exercise increased caution’ at well-liked Caribbean vacationer vacation spot

Tourists planning to go to a preferred Caribbean vacationer spot are being urged to train elevated warning amid experiences of potential violence on the island.

That recommendation, nonetheless, displays enchancment in circumstances within the space.

The U.S. State Department issued an up to date journey alert for Jamaica, decreasing its security designation from a “3: Reconsider Travel” to a “2: Exercise Increased Caution” warning.

“The advisory level was decreased to a Level 2,” the State Department mentioned. “There were no changes to the risk indicators.”

Those indicators embrace crime, healthcare considerations and the continuing dangers associated to restoration from Hurricane Melissa, which made landfall on the island on Oct. 28, 2025. Parts of Jamaica, the State Department mentioned, are nonetheless recovering from the storm, although all main airports have reopened for industrial flights.

Other considerations in Jamaica proceed to be violent crime, together with one of many Western Hemisphere’s highest murder charges. Tourist areas usually see decrease charges of violent crime, however armed robberies and sexual assaults are frequent.

“The U.S. embassy routinely receives reports of sexual assaults, including from U.S. citizen tourists at resorts,” the alert famous. “U.S. citizens report slow or unsatisfactory response to serious criminal incidents.”

Healthcare is one other concern, with fundamental and specialised medical providers not accessible in each a part of Jamaica. Private hospitals can require cost up entrance and ambulance providers aren’t at all times staffed with educated personnel. Common drugs, comparable to insulin, could be exhausting to acquire.

Level 4: Do not journey

Parts of Jamaica stay beneath the division’s highest designation – “Level 4: Do Not Travel.” Tourists are suggested to not journey to some elements of Jamaica. U.S. authorities workers aren’t allowed to journey to the high-risk areas as effectively.

Those areas are:

• St. Ann’s Parish – Steer Town and the Buckfield neighborhood close to Ocho Rios.
• St. Catherine’s Parish – Spanish Town, Central Village, areas inside Portmore, together with: Naggo Head, New Land, Old Braeton, Portmore Lane, Gregory Park, and Waterford.
• Clarendon Parish – All of Clarendon Parish, besides passing by means of Clarendon Parish utilizing the T1 and A2 highways.
• St. Elizabeth’s Parish – Vineyard District Community, between the communities of Salt Spring and Burnt Savanna, St. Elizabeth.
• Hanover Parish – Logwood and Orange Bay.
• St. James Parish/Montego Bay – Inland facet of the A1 freeway and The Queen’s Drive from San San to Harmony Beach Park.
• Kingston and St. Andrew Parish – Cassava Piece, Duhaney Park, Grants Pen, Standpipe, Swallowfield, Elleston Flats, August Town, and downtown Kingston, outlined as between Mountain View Avenue and Hagley Park Road, and south of Half Way Tree and Old Hope Roads. Downtown Kingston contains Arnett Gardens, Cockburn Gardens, Denham Town, Olympic Gardens, Seaview Gardens, Trench Town, and Tivoli Gardens.
• Manchester Parish – Green Vale and Gray Ground neighborhoods of Mandeville.
• St. Thomas Parish – Black Lane neighborhood in Seaforth, Grands Penn, Church Corner neighborhood close to Yallahs, Town of Yallahs, besides when driving by means of on the principle freeway.
• Trelawny Parish – Clarks Town.
• Westmoreland Parish – Russia neighborhood in Savanna-la-Mar (The Southeastern quadrant of Savannah la Mar east of Darling Street and south of the A2 freeway/Barracks Road), Morgan Bay, Kings Valley, The Whitehall, Bethel Town, and Red Ground neighborhoods of Negril.