Hurricanes leave lasting toll on Caribbean tourism, economy.

Byline: Michael A.W. Ottey

MIAMI _ The stream of hurricanes that hit the Caribbean this summer will knock the wind out of several tourism-dependent economies, and it will be months, even years before they fully recover, analysts say.

Following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks many of these vulnerable economies suffered and only recently had begun to bounce back. But now storms have blown progress to bits.

The Cayman Islands and Grenada are still in a daze from the blows dealt by Hurricane Ivan. Jamaica, the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, St. Vincent, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Lucia, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands were all struck _ to varying degrees _ by Ivan, Frances, Charley or Jeanne.

The full impact of this unusually busy hurricane season on the Caribbean's $20 billion tourist industry won't be fully known for some time, the analysts said, but it's almost certain that the coming winter tourist season will feel a chill.

"Tourism will be hit very hard," said Caroline Antsey of the World Bank. "Missing a season will be devastating. It's really going to set them back enormously." The World Bank has established a $10 million contingency fund for hard-hit countries in the eastern Caribbean, Antsey said.

"It's going to be a long, hard climb out," said Denis G. Antoine, Grenada's ambassador to the United States. "We have been set back for many years. It's going to be impossible without help."