Jamaica’s fragile welcome mat

A worker checking the badly damaged Jake’s Hotel in Treasure Beach, on Jamaica’s southwestern shore. In the wake of damage wrought by Category 5 Hurricane Melissa in October, officials in Jamaica – a country where tourism accounts for nearly a third of economy – are rushing to reopen dozens of hotels in time to salvage the vital winter travel season. — Erin Schaff/The New York Times

WITH power still out more than a week after a powerful hurricane tore through western Jamaica, Kellanie Kerr stood in the dark at the stifling souvenir shop in Negril where she works, waving a fan at her lone customer.

She tried to “guesstimate” just how dependent Negril – a beach town on Jamaica’s far west coast – is on tourism.