After natural disasters such as Hurricane Dorian, visitor arrivals to nearby and unaffected areas typically drop causing a second crisis with businesses that rely on tourism and the locals who are employed by them.
In the case of the Bahamas, where 60% of GDP comes from tourism, over 90% of its hotel inventory is in places that weren’t impacted by Dorian, and much of the economy is dependent vacationers.
It’s not always apparent, but hotels have dozens of local vendors in their supply chains, many small and medium-size businesses that support large sections of the workforce. Then there are local restaurants and bars, sightseeing companies, taxi services, boutiques, galleries and other retail establishments. And there are the companies that support those businesses. All depend on you coming.
So if you are like the many people out there who have already helped or want to help and are wondering what you can do, a great answer is to take a vacation to the Bahamas – now!
To help you figure out where to go, I talked to a number of leading travel advisors, and the good news is airport operations are running smoothly in those places that weren't impacted and many folks have the same idea.