By Andrew Green, Staff reporterTHE BAD news is that one out of every five hotel rooms was closed by Hurricane Ivan, says Godfrey Dyer, president of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association.
The good news is that most of the damage to tourism is cosmetic, and will be fixed in short order. And industry leaders say business should be back to normal levels by November.
"Montego Bay is fully back in operation," Mr. Dyer said of the country's leading tourist resort. "Ocho Rios is partly back with some areas lacking electricity."
STANDBY GENERATORS
Most Kingston hotels are also operational. He said that many properties have standby generators and so can operate even in the absence of the public power supply.
"Negril is most challenged with many small hotels badly hit and some large ones closed," he said. Hurricane Ivan surged along the south coast of the country causing damage to properties and visitor attractions from St. Thomas to Negril before swinging off to the Caymans on its course of destruction.
Jamaica has up to 25,000 hotel and other rooms to accommodate visitors, said Jamaica Association of Villas and Apartments Chairman Vanna Taylor. Of that number, she said the villas and apartments sector contributes about 9,000.
"We were hit worse than the hotel sector," Ms. Taylor said. "We have not been able to reach some members."
Properties at Treasure Beach in St. Elizabeth and Negril in Westmoreland in particular took "a tremendous hit," she said. "We are still assessing the situation."
One mitigating factor for the industry is that the hurricane came during the traditionally low season, she said. Occupancy in the villas and apartments sector would normally be under 50 per cent at this time of the year.
REFURBISHING
"Some properties have closed to refurbish," she said. They should be back in operation by the time business would be expected to improve.
One of the problem the travel industry faces is that the United States Department of State has issued a warning against travel to Jamaica, said Sandrea Falconer, Air Jamaica's director of communications. Air Jamaica carries 51 per cent of all airline passengers to Jamaica.
The travel warning issued on Tuesday urged U.S. citizens to avoid travel to Jamaica at this time due to the aftermath of Hurricane Ivan. The State Department urged Americans in Jamaica to leave the island as soon as safe transportation was available.
The vast majority of Jamaica's visitors come from the United States and those who fill the country's tourist accommodations normally travel by air.
FLIGHTS
Air Jamaica had resumed regular flights earlier in the week, Ms. Falconer said. "Traffic will be down for a while," the airline executive said. "We are not likely to see a return to any kind of normality for another four to five weeks."
The cruise ship sector has seen a quite different pattern.
"Next week we will see business as usual," said William Tatham, director of Cruise Shipping at the Port Authority. He said the cruise lines were all satisfied with the situation in the island and vessels had started calling again.
"We lost no more business than if we had a storm," Mr. Tatham said. "Our ports are fine and most of the attractions are fine."
The state of the island's visitor attractions is a critical factor in getting cruise ships to call at the island's ports as well as in getting passengers to leave their vessels.
"We have done a survey and found there is not a great deal of structural damage to our attractions," said John Gourzong, president of the Association of Jamaica Attractions Limited. He said, "Most are ready for business and some have already reopened."
RAFTING
His own River Raft Limited at Martha Brae should be operational by today, Mr. Gourzong said. "The river is in spate but it is coming down."
A few attractions are not so lucky. An animal farm in Hanover lost many of its exotic birds and tours of the Black River have also been disrupted.
But for the most part, Mr. Gourzong said, "In the next two weeks nearly all should be open and able to accommodate visitors."
Jamaica has emerged in much better shape than the Cayman Islands, Mr. Tatham said. That nearby island group, which is a cruise ship destination, was devastated by the hurricane.
"We have been able to bounce back quickly," Mr. Tatham continued. He had expected that the island would have lost business for about a week, but instead ships have already started to make calls.
Jamaica's cruise ship passenger arrivals should be about 1.1 million this year, Mr. Tatham said. "It may be up or down a bit."
The cruise shipping business has seen rapid growth for several years but is starting to reach the limits of its capacity. Mr. Tatham said, "The demand for us to grow is there, especially in winter."
EXPANDING INFRASTRUCTURE
Efforts are being made to enhance the utilisation of current capacity and expand the infrastructure, the cruise shipping executive said. "I am hoping in '05 and '06 we will start to see growth again."
The country is open to visitors and most airlines have restarted their service, Mr. Dyer said. "Charters flights will resume shortly."
Her own property, Sunflower Beach Resort, is without electricity, JAVA Chairman Vanna Taylor said. Despite being informed of this, some guests will be arriving today.
September and October are slow months for Jamaica's tourism, "but by November we should back to normal," Mr. Dyer said. "I speak with total confidence."
