It’s been a while since I’ve been to play golf St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands – I used to live on St. Thomas – but things haven’t changed much.

Downtown Christiansted looks like a ghost town, especially at night.

“St. Croix has been dead for 20 years,” said one cabdriver, while other cabbies nodded agreement.

Little wonder. Crime scares people off here, from potential tourists to residents.

Tourism suffered greatly when the cruise ships left. Too many passengers were getting robbed and beaten when they ventured out and the government refused to do much about it, so the cruise ships pulled out.

There are other factors. Your average Cruzan, like most other people in the Caribbean, is exceedingly nice, law-abiding, very polite and usually well-informed and intelligent. These are the people I feel sorry for, who have to put up with high crime, government corruption, a worsening economy and bad roads.

But, too often you encounter rude and indifferent people in the tourism industry. Are you listening King Christian Hotel?

Crime is bad and getting worse,.

“Seems like there’s a shooting every night, and even daytime,” said the cabdriver. “They don’t argue any more, they just pull out a gun and shoot you. I feel really sorry for the young men today.”

Dive site, Cyber Diver News Network, warns tourists to be prepared; one warning came after a couple on a dive trip was injured when gunmen came into a St. Croix restaurant shooting and robbing patrons.

“Cyber Diver advises travelers to always be wary of resort and dive operator hype., and completely disregard industry promotion groups such as DEMA and the Cayman Islands Watersports Operators Association that exist primarily to conceal public safety and environmental problems that might have a negative impact on the bottom line.”

A ray of hope: Captain Morgan, the rum producer, is moving from Puerto Rico to St. Croix.

Let’s hope that puts them in a better mood. The people there deserve it.

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