As summer vacation season rolls around many would-be travelers are considering a vacation to one of the Caribbean Islands. After last year’s devastating back-to-back hurricanes Irma and Maria, many people are curious what islands are back open for tourists. While 70% of the islands were unaffected by the storms some such as Puerto Rico, the US and British Virgin Islands and a few others were hit very hard and are still recovering.
One of the hardest hit islands, Anguilla “has been steadily bouncing back from Hurricane Irma’s devastation and is open for business. Power and telecommunications are restored. Major infrastructure has been restored or are in progress. Many hotels and guest houses are open for business.” According to caribbeantravel.com.
Barbuda sustained a direct hit and 90% of the homes were destroyed and many of the hotels sustained damage as well. That being said, the entire island only has only 100 hotel rooms the effect on tourism was not greatly impacted. Just one fatality was reported from the storm.
The British Virgin Islands were hit very hard during last year’s hurricanes. The island has made really good progress rebuilding the infrastructure and trying to get back to normal. All electricity, water, mobile networks and internet have been restored.
The Dominica has 100% water restored, they are still working to get all the power up and running and 90% of the island has cell service. As of June 41% of all the hotel rooms are open. The island received major damage to it’s hotel infrastructure which completely destroyed 13 of them and currently 42 hotels remain closed. Some good news, the island has managed to save all if it’s port calls for the 2018-19 season. These people desperately need your tourism dollars so please make they trip if you can.
Puerto Rico has done a great job restoring everything back to normal considering how hard they were hit. As of June 92.5% of their residents have power but unfortunately 10,000 people have not had their electricity restored who primarily live in rural areas. 98% of the residence have running water, telecommunications are 99% operational across the island. As of May, 130 of the 146 hotels are open, 76% of the restaurants are open, 17 of the 18 casino’s, 13 golf courses and 184 total attractions are open as well as it’s cruise port.
St Barts has 100% of it’s electricity restored, internet and cell service is available throughout the island (exact numbers unknown) WiFi hotspots have been installed throughout the island. 50% of the islands villa’s are open and the remaining 50% will open this winter. More than 60 of the 80 restaurants are open, about half of the 28 hotels are open. All the beaches have been cleared and the port in Gustavia is open.
St Maartin has more than 95% of it’s electricity restored, telecommunications and WiFi are restored. On St Martin electricity is back up and water and telecommunications are restored but cell service is hit or miss. Over 80 % of the Bars, Cafes and restaurants are open for business in St Maartin. About 60% of the restaurants are operating.
The US Virgin Islands‘ power has been fully restored. Airport arrivals are back to 85% of what they were prior to the storm. 95% of the debris cleanup is complete. 95% of the restaurants, shops, public transportation is at 80%, major attractions are operating at 80%, airports are operating at 85% of the pre-hurricane capacity. Most of the attractions are open and more than half of the restaurants have reopened. Many of the hotels throughout the islands still remain closed.
For more information about openings, closures, or to help with recovery please check out these links:
http://www.caribbeanhotelandtourism.com/knowledge-center/hurricane-center/
http://www.cdema.org/
http://www.tourismcares.org/caribbean
