Seiveright optimistic for winter tourist season, despite Melissa blow

… calls on SMEs to reopen as key step towards national recovery

While most hospitality workers in hurricane-battered western Jamaica come from communities still without electricity, water, and other essentials, Delano Seiveright remains hopeful that the upcoming winter tourist season can be salvaged.

“We remain optimistic that we will still have a winter tourist season,” he said, when quizzed by The Gleaner about the projections for the season, based on the impact of the hurricane.

Seiveright, the minister of state in the Ministry of Investment, Industry and Commerce, says work is ongoing to restore roads in many of the affected communities, which he considers an important step in the reopening of the country’s economy.

“On the bright side, about 90 per cent of our roadways across the county are now either cleared or traversable, so that helps with one of the challenges we had initially, which was the inability of people to move,” he said, albeit referencing the collapse of the telecommunication services and electricity, which are currently being restored.

As it relates to the rescuing of the 2025-2026 tourist season, Seiveright said he has been going around the island meeting with key stakeholders, especially in damaged areas of the country, including sections of Hanover.

“If we don’t get business back up and running, the centre cannot hold. It is as simple as that,” he emphasised.

“It is a multifaceted process,” he explained. “We have been working closely with the utility companies to get better timelines as it relates to electricity restoration, water restoration, and telecommunications back up and running. Beyond that, we have been meeting with the business community, big and small, to get timelines as to how quickly they can get back up and running, including the major hotels in Hanover, which employ thousands of citizens. Those are critical to getting the economy turning again.”

Seiveright also issued an urgent appeal to business owners, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to press forward with their reopening efforts, describing their role as vital to national recovery.

“We know that many businesses have been destroyed, and countless others severely damaged. Our hearts are with everyone who has suffered losses,” he said. “But we must also focus on getting back up, because reopening businesses means restoring jobs, incomes, and hope.”

While continuing his stakeholder engagements, Seiveright said his ministry is prioritising support for enterprises that were not badly damaged, to help them resume operations quickly. He stressed that restoring day-to-day commerce is crucial for jump-starting the wider rebuilding effort.

“Whether it’s your hairdresser, your barber shop, a grocery store, a small gas station. Whatever it is that helps to turn economic activities, we need to get those up and running, because no amount of humanitarian aid is – frankly, despite the kind support from many countries and aid organisations – enough to get the economy and the people of Jamaica going again.”

According to Seiveright, recent data from the National Spatial Data Management Branch shows that more than 116,000 of the 428,000 buildings in its national database sustained severe damage during Hurricane Melissa. The worst-affected parishes include Westmoreland, St Elizabeth, and Manchester, with significant impact across parts of Hanover, St James and Trelawny.

adrian.frater@gleanerjm.com

Source: The Gleaner