Gay Nagle Myers
Three conversations with three tourism officials from three hurricane-impacted islands. Each had a story to tell, statistics to report, updates to provide and a message to communicate.
But each conversation differed, depending upon where in the recovery process each island found itself.
Puerto Rico
It's been over a month since Maria decimated Puerto Rico, and much of the island continues to operate in emergency mode. Only 20% of the island has power and in the hard-to-reach villages and towns residents still struggle to get food, water, supplies and basic information from distribution centers and local officials.
However, island-wide there now are 400 supermarkets with provisions, 80% of the gas stations have fuel and 900 ATMs are working.
As Gov. Ricardo Rossello told President Trump in a news conference on Oct. 19, "We have poignant short term needs and a long road ahead of us."
However, in my conversation with Jose Izquierdo, executive director of the Puerto Rico Tourism Co., a far more upbeat story emerged.
The island plans to host the Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association's annual Marketplace event at the convention center in San Juan as scheduled in January, he said. "It will be our opportunity to illustrate our recovery from the storms."
San Juan is not typical of the rest of Puerto Rico in terms of recovery, because the capital city has made progress. Its tourism sector has 55% of its 9,900 hotel rooms in operation, although most are currently housing first responders and Federal Emergency Management Agency personnel, and some of the properties are still operating on generators.
"We had 3,600 cruise passengers board Royal Caribbean's Adventure of the Seas, when it departed San Juan on Oct. 7, the first of weekly sailings from its homeport here,"Izquierdo said.
He admitted that not everything is perfect in the tourist sector in San Juan, but given the rest of the island, it's looking very good.
Attractions such as the Bacardi factory and El Morro Fort will reopen Nov. 1.
Izquierdo is looking toward Dec. 20 as opening day for the island's tourist season. "We hope to welcome traditional tourists, those coming for vacations, and members of our diaspora, and we want to be ready for them in San Juan."
However, the timeline for the reopening of tourist sectors outside San Juan remains murky.
St. Maarten
Rolando Brison, St. Maarten's director of tourism, frankly admitted that returning visitors arriving there this winter "will see a difference from what they have seen before, but progress is being made day by day."
The airport is open, with daytime flights only until the runway lights are repaired. Brison estimated that the full repair of the airport would take until next June. The port is expected to reopen shortly; the curfew has been lifted, 30% of room inventory is available and most roads are clear.
"We expect to be at 50% of room inventory by March," Brison said.
However, there's work to be done in the residential sectors, including roof repairs and restoration of power and water in some localities.
"Although we are open now, expectations need to be kept in check," he said. "I am confident that St. Maarten will be able to offer a very nice tourism product by next February or March."
Antigua and Barbuda
Then there are the very different tourism stories regarding the two-island country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua survived Irma with minimal damage; Barbuda, as we know, did not.
Colin James, director of tourism, reported that 500 students, who were part of the 1,600 residents evacuated from Barbuda after the storm, are now in schools in Antigua.
"Recovery in Barbuda has started," he said. "One cell phone company is back in service. Power is very limited and relies on generators. There is a huge aquafier underneath the island, so most people on the island relied on wells for their water source, but it takes power to run the pumps to get the water."
Many evacuees take the ferry to Barbuda in the morning to work on the cleanup of their homes and businesses and return to Antigua in the evening, an hour and a half trip each way. Barbuda's small airport is open to relief flights. The terminal was seriously damaged. The island has received help from the U.K., Canada and the U.S. as well as from Antigua.
"Barbuda had only 40 to 45 hotel rooms to begin with, so the impact on tourism is negative, although Robert De Niro plans to proceed with his project for the Paradise Found Nobu resort with 100 to 120 rooms," James said.
Meanwhile, on Antigua, 39 miles south, life is good.
"We dodged the eye of Irma by 30 miles," he said. "What a difference that made. We had some strong winds and tree damage but just cleanup when it was over."
Antigua is completely open for business, and as a result of Irma and Maria's impact on other islands will benefit from 57 recent additions to its cruise call schedule between October and December, for a total of 226 cruise calls and a projected 459,138 cruise passengers.