The U.S. Department of State issued a travel warning for citizens planning to visit Mexico. U.S. tourists have been victims of various violent crimes across the country with the number of murder victims rising in 2015.

The State Department reported that the murder rate rose from 100 in 2014 to 103 in 2015, cautioning people going to Mexico to be aware of the high levels of violence and organized crime groups in some areas. Homicide, gun battles, kidnapping, carjacking and highway robbery were highlighted as some of the criminal activities that occur regularly in the region.

In particular, the travel warning tagged the states where tourists are urged to exercise extreme caution and/or defer travel: Aguascalientes, Baja California, Baja California Sur, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Colima, Durango, Estado de Mexico, Guerrero, Jalisco, Michoacán, Morelos, Nayarit, Nuevo Leon, Oaxaca, San Luis Potosi, Sinaloa, Sonora, Tamaulipas and Zacatecas.

Underlining the severity of the warnings, U.S. government personnel are even prohibited from personal visits or intercity travel in many areas of the country.

To be safer and more secure, U.S. citizens are advised to "lower their personal profiles" and refrain from showing extreme wealth overtly with clothing, jewelry and expensive gadgets. Even entertainment establishments such as casinos, sports books and the sort are big security concerns in Mexico and the U.S. have prohibited their personnel to even visit these facilities especially in the states of Coahuila, Durango, Zacatecas, Aguascalientes, San Luis Potosi, Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas, Jalisco, Colima and Nayarit.

Mexico isn't the only destination that the State Department is being cautious about. According to a report from Yahoo! News last week, the U.S. has also renewed the travel alert for El Salvador due to violence spreading in the country. While Americans aren't particularly a target, crime throughout the region has been a cause for major concern as of late, especially due to the country's murder rate that's one of the highest in the world.

Specifically, tourists in El Salvador are warned that the longer they are in the country, the more likely they are to fall victim to extortion by gangs. Two of the country's biggest organized crime groups are Mara Salvatrucha and 18th Street.

Meanwhile, the outbreak of the Zika virus has prompted the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to issue a travel alert to various Latin America countries including Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Suriname, Venezuela and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.