Caribbean tourism looks to entice visitors

Tourism officials in the Caribbean are setting to work on initiatives to entice visitors back to the holiday hotspot and erase the negative images of the recent storms that swept through the region.

Between them, hurricanes Gustav, Hanna and Ike, as well as tropical storm Fay, have battered hotels and airports in the Turks and Caicos Islands, Cuba and the Bahamas, and also caused widespread damage and flooding parts of the United States.

There are fears that potential visitors could assume the storms have left no island untouched, an assumption that is incorrect, according to Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association head Alec Sanguinetti.

Locations that have not been affected by the weather systems include Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Martinique and Barbados, reports the Associated Press.

Industry officials have recommended a number of initiatives to entice visitors back to the Caribbean, including local travel associations broadcasting webcam images of idyllic locations that were not affected by the storms.

Tourism is the Caribbean region's most important industry, with more than 15 million people visiting the area's resorts and beaches last year.

Posted by Penny, 11 September 2008 11:24

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