The Tourism Ministry has responded to a report in the internationally distributed American newspaper USA Today, which painted an alarming picture of Jamaica's tourism industry.
In a statement Tuesday afternoon, the ministry strongly condemned the incidents of assault.
According to the USA Today report, sexual assaults are occurring inside gated resorts in Jamaica.
It alleged that Jamaica has a pervasive sexual assault problem, noting that an estimated one American is raped each month.
The USA Today report quoted statistics from the US State Department which revealed that 78 Americans were raped in Jamaica from 2011 to 2017.
It said the victims include: a mentally handicapped woman in her 20s, an Indiana mother gang-raped by three Cuban soccer players in a resort bathroom stall, a 20-year-old woman raped by two men in her hotel, two Detroit mothers raped at gunpoint in their room, and a Kent County teenager and her 21-year-old friend, gang-raped by lifeguards in a locked laundry room at the resort where they were staying.
According to U.S. Embassy reports, 12 Americans were raped in Jamaica last year, half of them inside resorts by hotel employees.
The U.S. government suspects this number may be higher as sexual assaults are often under-reported, and the embassy figures do not include victims from other countries.
Last month, two Detroit women were allegedly raped by a hotel employee at gunpoint at the Riu Reggae Hotel in St. James.
The USA Today report said when the women reported the rape to hotel staff, management told them it had never heard of this type of assault happening there before.
It said Jamaican officials took the same position, implying that sexual assaults were rare.
USA Today said the Ministry of Tourism and the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Last year, Jamaica was ranked the third most dangerous country for female travellers by Trip by Skyscanner, a California-based travel research company that reviews destinations worldwide.
Egypt and Morocco topped the list.
Read Ministry of Tourism statement below:
We are fully aware of the news story that indicated inter alia that over the past seven years there were 78 recorded cases of sexual assault against American visitors. We strongly condemn these incidents of assault and all other crimes against visitors and citizens alike.
We want the public to be assured that all cases that are identified, whether they are current or of a historic nature, are being given full attention because Jamaica is committed to maintaining a safe, secure and seamless destination.
Additionally, Jamaica prides itself in our record of being hospitable to over 20 million tourists who have visited over the past seven years. Jamaica also has a world leading and very high repeat visitor rate of 42 per cent with an extremely low rate of crime against our visitors.
Once again, the safety and security of our citizens and guests are always of the utmost concern.
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