When a Category Five hurricane tears across Jamaica, our eyes instinctively turn to the physical destruction — crumpled roofs, flooded roads, and an uprooted shoreline. But long after the winds have died, a quieter and more consequential storm begins to unfold: the economic and emotional fallout for the tens of thousands of Jamaicans who make their living in tourism.

Much of the early public conversation has focused on the damage to hotel plants and resort properties. This is understandable; tourism remains one of Jamaica’s largest foreign exchange earners, and hotel closures have immediate effects on revenue, arrivals, and investor confidence. Yet behind every shuttered hotel door stands a housekeeper, a bartender, a craft vendor, a tour operator, or a lifeguard whose income disappeared overnight. Their recovery will determine whether the tourism sector rebounds with equity or whether the hurricane deepens existing inequalities.

The Invisible Human Cost

Tourism workers occupy one of the most paradoxical positions in the national economy: They support our flagship industry yet often live with the least financial buffer. Many rely on weekly wages, tips, and informal jobs that rarely come with insurance or allows them to save. When a hurricane forces hotels to close — sometimes for weeks, sometimes for months — these workers face immediate loss of income. It’s not just hotel buildings that were hit. According to recent reports, nearly 175,000 Jamaicans are employed directly or indirectly in tourism. Many of these are housekeepers, bartenders, craft vendors, tour guides, and transport operators — people whose livelihoods depend on a steady flow of visitors.

The closure of even a single large resort can suddenly displace several hundred people. When multiple properties are affected, the shock ripples through entire parishes. Craft markets stall, taxi operators lose passengers, and farmers who supply hotel kitchens watch orders evaporate. Research on post-disaster tourism impacts in the Caribbean consistently shows that workers, not properties, endure the longest period of recovery, as employment lags far behind infrastructural repairs (Caribbean Tourism Organization analyses have highlighted this trend). If Jamaica fails to centre these workers in national recovery planning, temporary unemployment could quickly become long-term displacement from the labour force.

A hotel housekeeper in Hanover told the Associated Press (AP): “With some of the hotels closed…many of us are left without work. This storm didn’t just destroy buildings, it shattered jobs and incomes for many of us and our families.”

Similarly, a craft vendor working in Falmouth said she goes “days without tourists…no sales and no money” — a vivid illustration of how daily-income workers are bearing the brunt of the crisis.

These are not temporary inconveniences. The closure of large resorts ripples outwards into the entire tourism ecosystem: local taxi drivers, farmers supplying kitchens, guides, and market sellers all suffer when business grinds to a halt.

Short-Term Closures, Long-Term Consequences

The danger is not only the immediate loss of jobs, but the trap that follows. A prolonged hotel closure can push workers into informal hustles, debt, or migration. Some never return to the tourism sector and the country loses experienced talent — talent we cannot afford to lose as climate change intensifies the frequency of extreme weather events.

Moreover, the recovery of tourism is often uneven. Larger, foreign-owned hotels typically rebuild faster due to access to insurance and capital. Smaller local operators and community-based enterprises take far longer as they lack the required financial cushion; therefore, their workers may remain unemployed longer.

While many small businesses and workers struggle, larger hotel chains appear better positioned to bounce back. According to Euronews, some major resorts are targeting a reopening around mid-December, just in time for the winter peak season. Without timely intervention, these delays create a two-speed recovery: one for big business and one for ordinary Jamaicans. This two-speed recovery, if left unchecked, risks deepening socio-economic disparities in our tourism workforce.

What Is Being Done and What More Must Happen

Some support is emerging. The Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) has allocated $10 million to help tourism workers affected by the hurricane. This aid includes grants of $10,000-$100,000 for verified losses among employees and small operators, especially those without the backing of large hotel chains. But while the JHTA’s intervention is welcome, it is not sufficient for the scale of the problem. A more comprehensive, worker-centred recovery plan is urgently needed.

If Jamaica is to rebuild smarter — not just stronger — our recovery strategy must prioritise the people who animate our tourism product. I propose three policy directions:

1) Targeted social protection for tourism workers: Government emergency grants should specifically include categories such as hotel staff, contract service workers, attraction employees, and artisans whose incomes are tied to visitor arrivals. Rapid-pay mechanisms — through banking partnerships or parish-level distribution centres — would prevent the weeks-long wait that often accompanies relief funds.

2) Skills training and upskilling grants: Periods of hotel closure can become strategic opportunities if paired with training. Short courses in hospitality management, digital tourism, language skills, renewable-energy maintenance, or disaster-preparedness certification would help workers re-enter the job market more competitively. The HEART/NSTA Trust, tertiary institutions, and private-sector training institutes could collaborate on fast-tracked programmes designed for displaced workers.

3) Rapid re-employment programmes: Government, through the Ministry of Tourism, should partner with hotels, cruise lines, and tourism associations to create a centralised labour exchange for workers temporarily out of jobs. This database could match workers with short-term contracts in reconstruction, resort reopening teams, food-and-beverage events, transportation support, or community tourism initiatives. Such programmes have been used effectively in post-disaster recovery in other small island economies.

Rebuilding With the Right Priorities

Jamaica’s tourism brand is built on more than beaches and buildings, it is built on its people. Our workers greet guests after long shifts, restore rooms with care, narrate our culture through storytelling and craft, and ensure that every visitor leaves with warmth in his or her memory. They are not ancillary to the industry; they are the industry.

As the country mobilises around infrastructure, insurance claims, and rebuilding costs, we must resist the temptation to measure recovery solely by hotel occupancy rates or revenue projections. A resilient tourism future depends on a resilient workforce. If workers fall behind, the entire sector will lag behind.

Tourism isn’t just about infrastructure; it’s about people. Our housekeepers, our drivers, our craft artisans are more than just cogs in an economic engine — they are the heart of Jamaica’s hospitality and culture. If our recovery prioritises only hotels and not the labour force, we risk rebuilding in a way that leaves the most vulnerable behind.

We must understand that a resilient tourism sector is not one that just restores rooftops and lobbies, it is one that restores hope, jobs, and dignity. Jamaica’s future in tourism will depend on how we treat the people who make it possible.

This hurricane has given us a painful reminder: Climate shocks are no longer rare events. If Jamaica is to navigate an era of stronger storms and rising seas, our recovery strategies must be people-first, not property-first.

The storm may have passed, but the real test — our commitment to the people who keep our economy alive — begins now.

Dr Odetha Davis is a university lecturer. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or odidavis@outlook.com.