The Bahamas Need Tourism at Center of Post-Dorian Recovery
Skift Take
After being ravaged by the unprecedented Hurricane Dorian, the Bahamas is in its most urgent stage of recovery. But with half of its GDP dependent on tourism, it will need to focus its efforts in the coming months on ensuring that travelers still visit.
Hurricane Dorian took its deadly toll on the Bahamas earlier this week and continued up the U.S. coast in a weakened state on Friday. The storm has left the islands of The Abacos and Grand Bahama destroyed, and will force an economy that relies on tourism for roughly 50 percent of of its gross domestic product to launch a mammoth recovery effort.
Following the strongest storm to ever strike the country since records began, the official death toll is 30 and is expected to rise to what the country's health minister warned could be "unimaginable" levels. As the storm made landfall at Cape Hatteras, North Carolina early Friday, the priority in The Abacos and Grand Bahama islands rightly remains search and rescue and getting essential services to those affected.
The Bahamas will seek extensive foreign government aid and it is urgently appealing for cash donations, with assistance coming from both the private and public sector. Cruise lines, hotels, and resorts have all set up funds or
