Bahamas asks tourists not to stop after Hurricane Dorian

The monstrous storm forgave some of the best-known resorts in the 700-island archipelago, such as Atlantis, Paradise Island. Also to Nassau, the biggest city.

But 160 kilometers from there, on the island Grand bahama and the islands Abacus, many smaller hotels and pensions were damaged or destroyed. The challenge is twofold: to convince tourists to keep coming without trivializing suffering on the affected islands.

“Welcome to all donations, but a great help for us will be visits to the unaffected islands of the Bahamas. They are open, ”said the deputy director general of the Ministry of Tourism and Aviation, Ellison Thompson.

Tourism accounts for half of the gross domestic product of the Bahamas, of $ 5.7 billion, according to the Bahamas Investment Authoritys. In comparison, tourism accounts for 20% of Hawaii's GDP and less than 3% of the GDP of the entire United States.

See: Grim task of searching for bodies in The Bahamas

The Ministry of Tourism confirmed Friday that all hotels in Abaco and Grand Bahama are closed. Together these islands have about 3,000 hotel rooms, 19% of the total of 16,000 in the archipelago, according to Frank Comito, president of the Hotel and Tourism Association. In addition there are hundreds of holiday homes. Airbnb has more than 600 properties for rent in the Grand Bahama and Abaco Islands.

According to official statistics, Grand Bahama received 670,000 visitors in 2018, the vast majority of them on cruise ships. More than 100,000 arrived by air at Marsh Harbor, the largest population of the Abaco Islands.

Comito has properties on the Abaco beaches, but does not know what state they are in. The owners of Pelican Beach Villas said that Doria totally destroyed their cabins near Marsh Harbor, and that the US ICE evacuated them to Nassau. Firefly Resort Abaco tweeted photos of fallen trees and a building is roof.

“Hurricane Dorian destroyed our paradise. We will rebuild it, ”tweeted the resort.