HARBOUR ISLAND, THE BAHAMAS — In the quaint tropical village of Harbour Island where American celebrities own vacation homes, locals drive golf carts and 18th-century houses overlook the harbor, the hotels are unscathed, the restaurants are open and the white and pink sand beaches are still pristine.
Some 90 nautical miles to the southwest in Nassau, the Bahamas’ capital, the cruise ships are in port and tourists are out sightseeing. But Sandra Kem, a tour operator, says business has plummeted by half since Hurricane Dorian’s Category 5 winds and rains roared through the northwest Bahamas a week ago, devastating two of the archipelago’s more popular tourist destinations: the Abacos and Grand Bahama.
With crews still combing through the storm wreckage, trying to account for the missing and the dead, and evacuees wondering how long the recovery and rebuilding will take, those in areas unscathed by the storm want visitors to know that the best way they can help is by visiting the Bahamas.
Many of the Bahamas’ 700 islands and cays, they say, are still receiving visitors and open for tourism.
