THE Caribbean tourist industry is struggling to recover from the worst hurricane season in almost a century, which has cost hundreds of lives and left thousands homeless. The true extent of the damage is only now beginning to emerge, four weeks after Hurricane Ivan ripped through the islands, scoring a direct hit on Grenada and Grand Cayman with winds up to 150mph (240km/h), as well as delivering blows to parts of Jamaica. This was followed only days later by Hurricane Jeanne, which killed 11 people in the Dominican Republic and left more than 2,000 dead in neighbouring Haiti. Although Haiti suffered the worst loss of life by far, it is the complete devastation of the tiny so-called “Spice Island” of Grenada, which attracts more than 30,000 UK visitors a year, that has the worst repercussions for the holiday industry. Help from aid agencies, including Oxfam and the Red Cross, and neighbouring islands is coming in, but at least half of the island’s population of 90,000 remain homeless, power has still to be restored to rural areas, telephone lines are still down, there are food shortages and a dusk-to-dawn curfew remains in place. Some 90 per cent of the island’s buildings have been damaged and 37 people died. The capital, St George’s, justly known as the prettiest town in the Caribbean, bore the brunt of the destruction. Almost every building is roofless, including its churches, the prison and the Prime Minister’s residence. Ironically its marina is used as a safe haven by sailors who believe its southern latitude to be outside the hurricane belt. Today their yachts are smashed to flotsam, or stacked on top of each other like paper plates after a children’s party. Miraculously, some of the island’s most popular hotels, such as True Blue and the Calabash, suffered only limited damage and some of the smaller independent properties such as Petit Bacaye and La Sagesse, protected in small sheltered coves, were barely touched. However, leading hotels such as Spice Island on Grand Anse Beach and La Source, the island’s only all-inclusive, will be closed for a year. Even if some hotels do open in the next few weeks, tourists will have little to see beyond the beach. The island’s nutmeg and other spice plantations, a big draw for visitors as well as the lifeblood of the economy, have been flattened and could take more than ten years to recover. It’s too soon to count the full cost but the United Nations has appealed for £15.4 million in emergency aid, describing Grenada as “in a pretty desperate state ”. UK tour operators say they are unlikely to send clients to the island before December, with Easter next year a more realistic estimate. David Pollard, product manager at Harlequin Worldwide, said: “I don’t think we will have Grenada on sale much before December 15, no matter what the hoteliers say. That said, these islands are very lush and recover quickly. It’s amazing what a couple of weeks’ growth can do.” Paul Cleary, general manager of Caribtours, added: “How can you put a positive spin on something that is 90 per cent devastated? It’s very difficult for us. We want to go back and support Grenada but for many people a Caribbean holiday is the trip of a lifetime. We can’t send them somewhere that isn’t at its best.” According to Gerry Copsey, managing director of the tour operator Just Grenada, only frequent visitors and friends of the island will want to visit before Easter. “We have to tell the truth. There’s no point having beautiful hotels if you have to drive through a virtual bomb-site to get there. I’m sure that there will be some very attractive packages to encourage people to go back next year.” Despite lack of support from operators, Leo Garbutt, owner of the Calabash on Prickly Bay, five miles from the capital, says that he is determined to reopen on November 1. “Yes, things are desperate and the island is severely damaged, but nature is helping us and new green shoots are already appearing. Grenadians are wonderful resilient people and I want to give my staff their jobs back,” he said. The humanitarian cost of Hurricane Ivan is also still being counted on Grand Cayman, where 7,500 remain homeless. Although more popular with US visitors, the island attracts about 14,000 British tourists a year. Many go to dive and snorkel on the surrounding reefs, which may have sustained damage from the 20ft (6m) waves that pounded popular Seven Mile Beach, leaving a trail of destruction amongst the island’s main hotels. Stratospherically wealthy compared with Grenada, the Cayman Islands are the world’s fifth largest financial centre with some 600 banks valued at nearly £300 billion. When the hurricane, which has been acknowledged as the worst for 70 years, struck, the Government was initially accused of covering up the scale of the disaster to protect its financial institutions. But Don McDougall, European manager of the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism, told The Times: “There has been no cover-up. When the infrastructure of an island is damaged so badly, the Government must firstly deal with the tragedy on a humanitarian level. This means getting food and water to the people, restoring power lines and getting the sick and needy off the island. Looking after visiting media is not a priority. “We are working night and day to restore the island’s infrastructure and I am confident that most of our damaged hotels will reopen from early November and we will look good enough to attract tourists back.” SOURCE: TRAVEL.TIMESONLINE.CO.UK