I've been to Negril in 2014 and this is my son's first experience. We are finding some of the beach vendors to be quite aggressive and difficult to shake off, even with a polite "No thank you." I don't recall it being this bad in 2014. I have received advice from the guard at my hotel to say "No I'm not interested" multiple times without emotion because hustlers will be persistent. We would like to hear others' experiences and how you've dealt with it, and if it's worse since fewer tourists are around due to Covid. My son says this:

We felt unsafe one time after we refused to give a hustler money. This person started "talking us up", acting like a friendly local man. He asked us where we were from, how long we were staying, and proclaimed himself a "king of the beach"-- "if you got any problems with guys on the beach you come to me 'mon". After what seemed like a friendly conversation, he then tried selling us handmade bracelets. After clearly saying, "No, we are not interested in buying anything", he handed them to us and said he would give them as a gift. He placed the bracelet directly in my hand and then asked for a donation. I did not have any money to give, and after politely denying his offer a second time the man's entire attitude changed. He stared at us glaringly and I could feel his anger. Afterwards he started following us as we continued our walk and I thought he was stomping and cursing on our footsteps in the sand. I was immediately worried and grabbed my mother closely and let him walk by us. He turned around and glared at us again while I stared back. I felt incredibly uncomfortable and unsafe.

Because of this experience, my naivety about the essential goodness of people was soon destroyed after this vendor betrayed my polite feelings towards him and showed anger after we did not accept the bracelets. Although this was the only time I felt unsafe, I have had multiple other instances where I make it clear to the beach vendors than I am not interested, but they persist in talking to me. It creates an incredibly uncomfortable atmosphere and disturbs my peace and quiet on the beach.

Any advice as to what we could do better to handle these situations? What should we do if we feel unsafe?
Thanks in advance.