Even the most hardened sceptic among us must now admit that Jamaica’s tourism sector is not the fragile, brittle, easily broken industry that the island could not stake its economic future on.

Last week, the doubting Thomases would have seen incontrovertible proof of the resilience of tourism, with the fact that the sector has rebounded to more than 80 per cent of pre-hurricane levels, as signalled by the reopening of the iconic Half Moon hotel in scenic Montego Bay, St James.

In a sense, one could hardly blame those who felt that it was going to take years to bring back tourism to the pre-Hurricane Melissa devastation of October 2025, even though the industry had demonstrated its ability to defy disaster after disaster, year after year, including Hurricane Beryl in 2024.

The October 2025 storm, one of the most devastating at Category 5, killed at least 45 people, damaged about 150,000 buildings and homes, and almost crippled the tourism industry on which the nation relies for nearly a third of its economy.

That translates to more than half a million Jamaicans directly or indirectly.

Some hotels were without electricity and water for months, and some were and are too damaged to reopen until 2026, Half Moon included.

Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett, who disclosed the 80 per cent rebound — unexpected, we would argue — said the recovery was evidence of the steady return of hotel rooms and visitor arrivals, supported by continued investment in the sector.

“Yesterday, we brought back 660 rooms to the inventory, and today we bring back a little over 200… We will be now over 80 per cent in the recovery of arrivals into the country,” Mr Bartlett was quoted as saying in news reports out of the Half Moon reopening ceremony.

It was noteworthy that the reopened section included the luxury Eclipse at Half Moon, representing 57 beachfront rooms as part of Jamaica’s high-end inventory roaring back to business, important because of the significant spend by visitors in that category.

The Half Moon staff, management, and investors are deserving of the country’s highest commendation for its determination to bring back the resort and achieving it in such a relatively short time against the background of the damage suffered by Montego Bay.

We believe we can be forgiven for singling out Managing Director Shernette Crichton, who has just broken the glass ceiling at Half Moon as the first woman to hold that position there. Heartiest congratulations, Madame MD.

The overall recovery of tourism since Hurricane Melissa has been nothing short of inspirational, and would have meant so much to those who have had their jobs restored and the businesses which depend for their existence on the resorts.

It was indeed a sight to behold last December 6 when Sandals Resorts International (SRI) led off the recovery, announcing it would reopen five of its eight Jamaica resorts, a week ahead of the vital winter tourism season. Dozens of other hotels followed shortly after in areas that were mostly spared by Hurricane Melissa and so were able to bounce back in time to salvage the much-awaited winter travel season that runs from December to April.

We are confident that it will only be a matter of time before the remaining 20 per cent of the sector will be back up and running.