Jamaica’s global image received a lift as the United States upgraded its travel advisory from Level 3 to Level 2, signalling improved safety conditions. Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett hailed the move as a vote of confidence in Brand Jamaica, crediting it to falling crime rates and stronger national security. With tourism being a major economic driver, the upgrade is expected to bolster traveller confidence and attract more investment. 

Upgraded travel advisory

Jamaica Gleaner/8 Jun 2025

IT’S NOT clear the real impact travel advisories issued by the US government on foreign countries have on the decisions by Americans to travel to those destinations.

Our government, rightly, takes them seriously, especially when they are negative. It has, therefore, been effusive in its welcome of the recent upgrade, from level 3 to level 2, in the State Department’s advisory on the island. We, too, are happy for the development.

“This is significant for Jamaica, and it is indeed an encouraging development – one that reflects the hard work and commitment and discipline that this administration has brought to bear in matters of national security and foreign affairs,” said Prime Minister Andrew Holness.

Added the tourism minister, Edmund Bartlett: “This is a vote of confidence in Brand Jamaica. Our tourism industry is built on safety, excellence, and world-class service. The updated advisory will strengthen traveller confidence and further position Jamaica as a top destination for leisure, business, and investment.”

After all, tourism is Jamaica’s industry – it’s largest source of foreign exchange, apart from remittances and the second largest employer of labour, outside of agriculture. And critically, the United States accounts for close to 70 per cent of the more than four million tourists who come to the island annually. In 2024, the industry grossed, according to the government, US$4.3 billion.

This year, Jamaica has targeted five million tourists and projects to gross US$5 billion from the sector, of which, according to government estimates, 40 per cent is retained domestically.

COMPLAINT

The improved advisory follows Prime Minister Holness’ complaint to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, during Mr Rubio’s visit to the island in March, that the previous advisory, which warned Americans of severe risks in travelling to Jamaica, that the analysis did not reflect the country’s reality.

Dr Holness told Mr Rubio that crime against tourists represented less than 0.01 per cent of all crimes in Jamaica, and noted a downward trajectory of all crimes in the island, especially homicides. Indeed, murders so far in 2025 have fallen, year on year, by over 40 per cent and could dip below 1,000 for the first time in decades.

Dr Holness and Mr Bartlett have said this trend could be a boon for Jamaica, in terms of new investments and tourism arrivals, as well as earnings from the industry, which is indeed good news.

However, with respect to America’s travel advisories, Jamaica, even with the recent upgrade, isn’t out of the woods.

Although being at level 2 is far superior to being tagged with a level-3 designation, what the US government tells its citizens planning to travel to Jamaica isn’t exactly pretty.

While the State Department acknowledged that “violent crime in Jamaica has decreased since 2024” , it noted that it remained “statistically high throughout the country”, even though this tended to be lower in tourist areas.

It also said that armed robberies and sexual assaults were common and advised that US embassy employees were “prohibited from using public buses and from driving between cities at night”. The advisory also lists a slew of communities across the island, which US Embassy staff were prohibited from visiting.

Tourists, in the normal course of their Jamaican holidays, would hardly visit these communities, and, mostly, travel in organised tours. In any event, the vast majority of holidaymakers who vacation in Jamaica come to all-inclusive hotels.

Nonetheless, despite the mystique of its brand that causes tourists to come in large numbers, notwithstanding advisories of the type issued by the State Department, Jamaica has much work to do on the safety question, with respect to perception and reality.

The point is, if Jamaica is safe for the people who live here, it will be safe for tourists. Governments won’t have to highlight the exceptionally low crime level against visitors, compared to residents.

The recent trajectory is positive. This newspaper hopes it holds and gets better, without compromise to any of the principles enshrined in a liberal democracy.

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