Jamaica turns to tourism to help rebuild after Hurricane Melissa

The Jamaican economy relies heavily on tourism, and the country is encouraging people to visit to help the island recover.

CTV News Montreal 5 p.m. Anchor Maya Johnson travelled to Jamaica to see the devastation and document the relief and rebuilding efforts. This is the second part of a three-part series.

As Jamaica tackles the tough task of rebuilding after the devastating impact of Hurricane Melissa, tourism has emerged as one of its top priorities.

• READ MORE: Travelling to Jamaica after Hurricane Melissa; CTV News Montreal Anchor Maya Johnson reflects

“The tourist board had a slogan a few years ago: ‘Once you go, you know.’ And I like that because I think that’s true. There’s something special about our country,” said Paul Issa, executive director of Couples Resorts and chairman of the Issa Trust Foundation.

The Issa name is well known in Jamaica.

Among their many successful business ventures, the family is at the helm of a Jamaican-owned hotel chain that started with the late Abe Issa, who was born in Kingston in 1905.

“He’s often called the father of modern Jamaican tourism,” said his son, explaining that the elder Issa first brought tourism to the underdeveloped north coast in the 1950s.

He built Tower Isle Hotel in Ocho Rios – Jamaica’s first all-inclusive resort – when naysayers said the concept and location would never work.

• READ MORE: Rebuilding Jamaica: Survivors of Hurricane Melissa look to future

Over the years, it has evolved into the Couples brand, and the family now runs four hotels in Ocho Rios and Negril.

The hotels themselves were largely spared from the wrath of Hurricane Melissa, with only minimal damage.

“You know it’s hard for people who don’t live here to realize this is a relatively big island,” said Issa. “I was in Kingston and we never even lost power during the hurricane. I lost two little palm trees, that’s it.”

For hotel employees living in remote hard-hit areas, it was another story altogether.

It was devastation.

“It was rough, I’m telling you. Rough,” said Tafaria Clarke, a Couples Negril employee who dealt with major damage to her home in Savanna-la-Mar, on Jamaica’s south coast.

Taking stock of the impact the hurricane had on its employees, the hotel chain decided to use its philanthropic arm, the Issa Trust Foundation, to help Clarke and roughly 600 other employees.

• READ MORE: Canada plays major role in rebuilding Jamaica after Hurricane Melissa

The foundation offered temporary housing, provided vouchers for free building supplies from a local hardware store, and sent volunteers to help employees rebuild.

For Clarke, a single mother of a two-year-old, the aid was transformative.

“That is the best thing I ever had in my life. It was the most exciting and happiest moment of my life. That’s a memory, that moment. I can’t forget that,” she said.

Issa said taking care of the staff was a priority in the immediate aftermath of the hurricane.

“In a resort hotel, the staff are the most important thing. We have a large percentage of repeat guests, and they come back because of the staff,” said Issa. “Of course, they love the beach, and they love the hotel, and the food is great, and all of that, but their relationship with the staff is what keeps them coming back.”

Issa said that, though it may seem counterintuitive, he wants people to consider booking a trip to Jamaica – despite the images of destruction they may have seen on the news.

“I think what’s important for potential travellers to know is that our hotels – and many other hotels – are in perfect condition. They’re operating as normal,” he said. “The tourism industry in Jamaica is a key industry. It accounts for one-third of the economy, and it’s very important to us. As the tourism industry recovers, the island recovers.”

Jamaica love

After Hurricane Melissa hit last October, the Jamaican government said it wanted to get as much of the tourism industry as possible up and running again by Dec. 15, to coincide with the official start of the winter season - typically Jamaica’s busiest.

The country’s tourist board partnered with reggae artist Busy Signal to make a video for a song released more than a decade ago.

The song Jamaica Love is a remix of the 1984 Alphaville hit Forever Young.

It has become an unofficial anthem for Jamaica, and now it serves a new purpose: to encourage people to visit.

Quebec couple shows support

In early January, among the people relaxing beachside at Couples Negril was a Quebec couple, Jean-Claude Lévesque and Diane Cadieux.

Residents of Boucherville on Montreal’s South Shore, they told CTV News they’ve been to the resort 14 times over the Christmas holiday period.

Despite the hurricane’s devastation, they said they decided to go ahead with their annual trip, in part to support the staff.

WATCH: Rebuilding Jamaica: Survival stories in Black River

“We feel [at] home away from home. It’s our second family. We didn’t want to cancel [our trip],” said Cadieux, adding the resort was much quieter than usual. “We told ourselves that after all these years, we know them so well and we have so many friends that we had to be there for them – to support them, to help them, and to give them love. That was the main goal of coming back.”

Caroline Cousins, the resort’s general manager, said many of their regular guests also reached out and sent emergency supplies, food packages and hygiene products.

“I had so many emails, so many people calling and saying, ‘Caroline, we’re thinking about you. We’re thinking about Jamaica. You’re in our prayers.’ Within this community, the genuine care, the goodwill, it’s really touching,” she said. “It’s just something that we never imagined – that in this unprecedented crisis, the response from off Jamaica’s shores could be so amazing.”