While it can sometimes feel like government travel advisories have been around forever, the practice of rating foreign nations based on how safe or dangerous they are for tourists dates back to 1978 when the U.S. State Department started sending out bulletin notices about countries commonly visited by Americans.
The four-tier system ranges from the safest “exercise normal precautions” level one to level four’s “do not travel” assigned to a short list of authoritarian governments and countries with which the U.S. lacks diplomatic relations.
While a change in advisory ranking is usually preceded by a major event or change in diplomatic relations with the U.S., travel advisories warning of the situation on the ground are also published periodically about everything from natural disasters to pickpocketing surges.
New U.S. travel advisory focuses on jet ski accidents in The Bahamas
The Bahamas, a Caribbean nation that welcomed a record 12.5 million international travelers in 2025, is ranked at level two’s “exercise increased caution” level also assigned to countries such as France, Germany and Brazil.
While concerns previously promoted by the U.S. government included petty and some violent crime in certain common tourist areas, a recent spike in jet ski accidents prompted a new section on water section put in place earlier this spring.
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According to numbers registered by the U.S. Embassy in The Bahamas, six U.S. citizens vacationing in the country since 2024 have had to go to the hospital over jet ski accidents while three of those six needed to be medically evacuated back to the U.S. In September 2025, an American army lieutenant who rented jet skis at Paradise Island off Nassau was fatally injured after crashing into a boat.
As a result, the travel alert serves to remind Americans to only rent jet skis if comfortable using them and not use their holiday in another country to try the sport for the first time. Travelers are also encouraged to get expanded travel medical insurance if planning to do this type of extreme sport.
Jet skis “may not be safe and some operators are not licensed or insured”
“Watercraft may not be safe, and some operators are not licensed or insured,” the new section on jet skis and water safety added to the travel advisory page for The Bahamas now reads. “Watercraft operators sometimes ignore weather forecasts. Always follow local weather and marine alerts.”
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The advisory also draws attention to “sexual assaults by jet ski operators [that] have also been reported.”
In response, the Bahamian government has established a government task force to examine how to make jet ski rentals safer and crack down on any operators who flout the rules.
“Bahamian business owners and resort operators are ready and willing to be partners in making these waters safer — for tourists, for the Bahamian economy, and for the country’s reputation as a world-class destination,” United States Ambassador to The Bahamas Ambassador Herschel Walker said in a separate statemetn. “This is a real opportunity to make a lasting, positive change, and the Embassy stands ready to support that work.”
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