From meetpie

Caribbean still recovering from devastation of hurricane Irma

Virgin Holidays has teamed up with legendary British reggae band, UB40, to encourage tourists to return to the idyllic Caribbean islands following the impact left by Hurricanes Irma, Maria and Jose this year.

UB40, featuring Ali Campbell, Astro and Mickey Virtue, filmed a new music video for their greatest hits album Come Back Darling in a bid to reassure travellers that the region is ready for tourists to ‘come back’ following a concerted recovery effort.

Three months after Irma, Caribbean hotel and tourism organisations are working with British travel companies to remind consumers that the best way to help the islands recover is to visit the region.
More than 29 million tourists visited the region last year – however the Caribbean Tourism Organisation has revised its growth projections downward to 1 per cent – 2 per cent because of the 2017 hurricane season, from an original forecast of 2.5 per cent – 3.5 per cent. According to a Caribbean Development Bank assessment, a 1 per cent drop in visitor numbers would translate to 227,000 less visitors and $138 million in lost expenditure.

New research of 1000 British adults by One Poll depicts an even grimmer projection with more than a third of UK consumers claiming they are less likely to holiday in the region because they falsely believe the widespread media impression of the hurricane having a lasting impact.

Hugh Riley, Secretary General of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO), said: “Much of the region has bounced back and the damage, whilst catastrophic to some islands and people, was isolated.

For those areas that still need help rebuilding, it’s tourism that will help to fund these efforts and we would urge British tourists to ‘come back’ to one of the most beautiful regions in the world.”

IMAGE: Pictured: UB40 with Virgin Atlantic cabin crew

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