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VOTE: Do travel warnings affect your vacation plans?

This image shows Doctor’s Cave Bathing Beach at Montego Bay, Jamaica, where a military lockdown was implemented by the island’s government this week. Photo from Getty Images.
This image shows Doctor’s Cave Bathing Beach at Montego Bay, Jamaica, where a military lockdown was implemented by the island’s government this week. Photo from Getty Images.

There’s nothing like booking a vacation to a sunny destination to get away from it all.

But sometimes, the warm places Canadians visit around the world become hampered by violence.

Take Jamaica, for example. The island nation’s government issued a state of emergency Thursday for the St. James Parish area, which includes Montego Bay. Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness said the military lockdown is due to a recent spike in criminal activity, prompting the deployment of troops.

In response, the Canadian government issued a warning for travellers to Jamaica.

“Exercise a high degree of caution in Jamaica due to the high level of violent crime and the state of emergency in St James Parish,” says the online warning.

While this travel advisory might be concerning for some, Jamaica isn’t alone.

There are currently more than 60 countries where the Canadian government warns travellers to “exercise a high degree of caution,” including the Bahamas, the British Virgin Islands, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin, Trinidad and Tobago, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

In other areas, even harsher risk warnings are in place. The Canadian government warns citizens against non-essential travel to parts of northern and western Mexico, including Acapulco.

Despite this, there are still nonstop flights available from Toronto to Acapulco, which gives travellers the opportunity to decide for themselves whether a vacation hotspot is safe enough to visit.

Do these government-issued travel warnings affect your vacation plans? Have your say by voting in the poll above.

With files from The Canadian Press