CDMP Progress Bulletin

Hurricane Risk Reduction in the Hotel Industry

Bulletin Date: December 1999

In many areas of the Caribbean, the hotel and tourism industry is central to economic livelihood. Because of the focus of tourism on beach and coastal areas, tourism infrastructure is typically built in hazard-prone, low-lying areas. By increasing the resiliance of the tourism building stock to natural hazards, the Caribbean region is better positioned to recover from the social and economic shocks which accompany natural hazard events in the region.

In June 1998, the Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA) and the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) jointly released the Hurricane Procedures Manual. This manual is for use by hotels throughout the region for hurricane preparedness and response. To strengthen the focus on long term vulnerability reduction, the CDMP developed a chapter for this manual which describes hazard mitigation through improved hotel construction practices. To expand access to this information, CDMP has also supported the translation of the Hurricane Procedures Manual into Spanish. CDMP and CHA has jointly published the Spanish version of the manual in 1999.

In December 1998, CDMP and the CHA jointly sponsored the first in a series of regional workshops based on the material developed for the Hurricane Procedures Manual. This workshop was held in St. Lucia, and included hoteliers from St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Barbados. Three trainers from Puerto Rico participated on behalf of the CHA, in preparation for future workshops in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Central America.