Noach

Over the past two years or so that I have been researching the Caribbean, I have seen many passionate negative comments from people who felt unsafe and uncomfortable in Jamaica. It is interesting how Jamaica polarizes people; people seem to either love it or hate it, I have seen few who are neutral. <BR> <BR>Now, of course, safety is a relative term I do not have the statistics to know how safe Jamaica really is but I would like to ask the following of all those who so ardently defend Jamaica and claim that it is perfectly safe: <BR> <BR>Why have I not heard anywhere near as many negative comments regarding safety about any other widely-touristed Caribbean island as I have about Jamaica? <BR> <BR>Where there is smoke...

Lori

You are right when you say it seems people either love it or hate it. What's interesting, and you may have come across this in your research, is that the per capita crime rate is actually lower in Jamaica than in most North American cities. (That statistic comes directly from a US government source, which one I'm not sure.) I know personally that, were I not from the US, I would probably never visit places like New York or Miami, which are two of my favorite places. I've been harrassed and victimized in both cities, but brush it off as a learning lesson rather than turn myself off of the city entirely. There are parts of both cities that I love, and others I wouldn't go to in a million years. I can't imagine visiting either place as a foreigner without a great deal of apprehension. There are so many variables, including a person's expectations, tolerances, level of travel experience etc. that determine whether you love a place or hate it. For me, that's precisely why I'm looking forward to going to Jamaica in June. Because any place that evokes that range of reaction and emotion from people has to be worth seeing, at least once in your life.

Diane

I think because Jamaica promotes its tourism industry so much and offers so many packages -- from very inexpensive to very expensive, that many different kinds of people get to travel there. Everyone has different expectations and posesses a different sense of adventure. Two people may react to the same situation very differently. One might simply laugh off the persistent higgler, another may feel pestered or even threatened. (And that can happen anywhere). Jamaica may have created some problems as the same time as they developed into a major tourist destination. They really took the concept of All-Inclusive and made it BIG TIME. I don't think the rapid development of AIs helped the local folks all that much, with profits poured back into the corporations that run the AIs. The family that used to run a local bar or restaurant suddenly didn't get half as many customers. This type thing will happen as the AI popularity increases in other islands, at the expense of local businesses, and create some surley attitudes there too. Personally, I find Jamaica less problematic than St. Martin/Ste Maarten. But you really need to visit multiple islands -- and usually for more than just a cruise stop -- to decide which you want to return to. Experience gives you the authority to have a passionate opinion. My experience with Jamaica has been highly positive, so I am going back next week. And I don't do "all-inclusives" either!

Kim

I will also return there next year, and Yes I have been to other islands but i love Jamaica !!!

Joel

Hello, Noah. Back from the belly of the whale? You ask an interesting question. I've been to Jamaica three times since 1971 and these trips were to Kingston, Ocho Rios, and a small town further North. I explain the dichotomy you describe by starting with the fact that Jamaica is a poor nation. We saw vistas of "homes" made of cardboard boxes and scraps of corrugated metal in and out of Kingston. This was the non-tourist side of things that a tourist can stumble into with just a bicycle or car and little to no effort. Then there's the tourist area that surrounds the destinations that the resorts and the government plans and hopes you will stick to. I felt quite safe there, but there's no question that in the "other" Jamaica you would do well to be not travel alone and to have some means of self-defense. Under no conditions would I take my wife to those areas. At the time, I was with two or three men and would have felt better if there had been 10 more of us. <BR>I expect that there is a third Jamaica out in the countryside where normal people live modestly. <BR>So it seems to me that when you have poverty of the type that I've only seen in Jamaica, some parts of Panama, Vietnam, and Thailand, you're going to have the real island and the tourist experience and they're going to look very different from one another.

Noach

Enjoyed reading the replies. Thank you.