Hurricanes spare tourism industry
The two major hurricanes that hit Florida in three weeks generally spared the tourism industry, according to officials with VISIT FLORIDA.
A preliminary assessment found “few hotels, attractions, parks or other tourism assets sustained appreciable damage from the latest storm,” said Bud Nocera, VISIT FLORIDA president and CEO.
He said a few hotel properties, mostly along the east coast from St. Augustine down to Palm Beach, were impacted. But only a few properties were still not open.
Virtually all of the state’s theme parks reopened on Labor Day, though Kennedy Space Center officials said it would close until Thursday because of hurricane damage from Frances.
The state’s beaches had some remaining debris, but were generally in good shape, according to Mr Nocera.
Southwest Florida destinations that included Naples, Marco Island and the Everglades reported virtually no damage from the storm. They remained open for business.
Tampa also reported no damage from Frances, other than huge amounts of wind and water. Tourist attractions there have remained open.
The Florida Keys reported no harm. During past hurricanes, the Keys are generally one of the first areas to evacuate but this time, airports at Key West and in Marathon not only remained open but also handled Florida air traffic that had to be diverted from storm-hit areas.
Some cruises out of Florida were impacted by the storm and had to be rescheduled. The Port of Tampa was closed to all inbound and outbound commercial and cruise ships during the Labor Day weekend. Carnival was among cruise lines that were forced to make schedule changes, including the cancellation of at least one sailing, the Sensation. But the Port is now reopened to all traffic.
Some cruises out of closed Port Canaveral in Brevard County were re-scheduled, some of them to South Florida. Carnival Cruise Lines provided complimentary motor coach transportation to Miami for passengers. Port Canaveral officials say it could re-open later this week.
The Bahamas also escaped any damage.
VISIT FLORIDA hired the University of Miami to do an industry survey of the effects of Charley and Francis. Officials said that survey would find a credible number on the amount of damage the storm did to the tourism industry, which was virtually shuttered and closed during the always busy Labor Day weekend.
Report by David Wilkening
David
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