U.S. State Department Warns Against Travel to Trinidad and Tobago

The U.S. State Department is warning Americans against travel to Trinidad and Tobago due to crime, including kidnapping, in the country.

The advisory, reissued from a previous one after a review by the State Department, specifically tells Americans to reconsider travel to the island because of crime and kidnapping. The State Department bans its own personnel from traveling to certain areas of the country, including some areas in the Port of Spain, and is advising travelers to avoid those same areas.

“Violent crime, such as murder, robbery, assault, sexual assault, home invasion, and kidnapping is common,” the Level 3 warning reads. “Gang activity, such as narcotics trafficking, is common. A significant portion of violent crime is gang-related.”

The country is perhaps most well-known for the Trinidad Carnival in Port of Spain, which attracts a good amount of international visitors. It also has two of the top 25 Most Beautiful Places in the Caribbean, according to T+L. Still, it has not necessarily met its tourism potential.

Despite being one of the larger English-speaking Caribbean countries, it captures less than 2% of all international visitors to the region, according to Visit Trinidad. Tourism accounts for just 2.6% of the country’s GDP, which is well below the 9.1% of global GDP that travel and tourism contributed to in 2023.

Reducing crime is one of the key challenges that Visit Trinidad wants to overcome to boost tourism, along with working to ensure environmental sustainability, boosting airlift, and investing in hotels and resorts on the island.  Jamaica, for comparison, is also on the State Department’s list of countries that Americans should reconsider but is still consistently ranked as one of the most popular destinations in the region for North Americans and other international visitors.