Tourism in the Caribbean islands recorded almost one billion fewer visitors and more than $700 million following the scourge of hurricanes Irma and María last year, according to a study released Monday by industry experts.
The hurricane season resulted in an estimated loss of 826,100 visitors to the Caribbean, compared to predictions made before the hurricanes,”
explained the World Travel & Tourism Council, a London-based organization that monitors the economic health of the world tourism.
These visitors could have generated $741 million and sustained more than 11 thousand jobs, added the organization. With its turquoise waters and coral reefs, the islands of the Caribbean depend on tourism, which provides 15.2% of the region’s gross domestic product and sustains 14% of its labor force. Worldwide, the average contribution of tourism to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is 10.4%.
As a reference, 46.7 million international tourists visited the Caribbean in 2016 and spent about $31.4 billion, added the WTTC study. But in August and September 2017, the Caribbean was ravaged by two of the fiercest hurricanes ever recorded on the islands.
Irma and Maria wreaked havoc in Barbuda, San Martin, San Bartolomeo, Anguilla, Cuba, Dominica and the US territories of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Particularly Barbuda, Dominica, and Puerto Rico suffered Maria’s apocalyptic destruction and are still far from recovering.
According to the researchers, the recovery of the tourism sector to pre-hurricane levels could take four years, after which the islands of the Caribbean will have lost 3,000 million dollars.