Tourism As A Lifeline When Islands Need Us Most

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A Category Five on the map changes how you think about travel. We revisit the hard lessons of Katrina and apply them to Jamaica and the wider Caribbean right now, asking what smart preparation looks like when an island’s only exit may be a runway that closes days ahead of landfall. From insurance that actually pays when flights shift and hotel nights stretch, to simple steps like embassy registration and offline copies of IDs, we lay out a clear plan to travel wiser without losing the heart that makes trips worth taking.

We also talk about why tourism isn’t just leisure in places like Jamaica. It’s payroll for housekeepers, captains, and cooks; it’s school fees and rent; it’s the engine that restarts communities after debris is cleared. When the time is right and local authorities give the all-clear, returning with intention becomes a real way to help. Book local, tip fairly, and bring patience for supply delays and shorter menus. Your presence can be a small but meaningful act of recovery.

Along the way, we share field-tested advice: what “cancel for any reason” actually means, how to document closures for claims, why moving early beats moving perfectly on an island, and how to choose relief organizations that direct funds where they’re needed. If you’ve got a Jamaica trip on your bucket list—or clients and loved ones in the path—this guide gives you tools to protect your plans and support people on the ground. 

Looking for ways to help?

Support Jamaica – Official Disaster Relief & Recovery Portal

UNICEF - Hurricane Melissa Relief

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:15):
Hey, so um I one thing I will say, not definitely
just keeping it real.
Um as we were going back andresearching all about our time
warp in 2005, um some of theresearch came across that didn't
really fit into our otherepisode, but I just wanted to
bring it up because it is veryrelevant right now.

(00:36):
Um, is 2005 was the year ofKatrina, hurricane Katrina, the
category five hurricane thatslammed uh New Orleans and the
outlying regions.
Um it was catastrophic.
There was billions of dollarsworth of damage, there was
death, uh, there was it washorrific.

(00:58):
Um and I just think it'simportant now as we have another
category five storm rolling uponto us.
Um I think it's important thatwe just, you know, say that our
hearts are going out to thepeople of Jamaica, just like um
everybody back in Katrina.
And um just wanted to kind ofbring it up.
It wasn't all about the low risedreams and the Xbox um and the

(01:20):
flip phone.
There was some serious thingsthat happened, you know what I'm
saying?

SPEAKER_01 (01:25):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
And I mean, you know, that wasdefinitely a time that I I know
we remember very clearly andwhen all that happened and all
the disaster relief that wasneeded and required afterwards,
and just all the time it took.
I mean, it took years for thecity to get cleaned up and all
the areas to get rebuilt,families to find each other, et

(01:49):
cetera.
Like it was just such such atime.
Um, and now, like you said,we're seeing another category
five heading for, you know, nota mainland area, but a small
island that is in a lot ofdanger.
Um and, you know, with both ofus being in travel, you know,
this is definitely a concern onmoney levels, right?

(02:12):
Our heart goes out to the peopleof Jamaica, everyone who lives
there, who's traveling there,and just their safety in
general, and also just anyonewho's thought about planning a
trip there even in the nextyear, just as a caution to them,
um, just to be careful andeverything, especially on the
travel side, as resorts arelocking down, all of that stuff.

(02:33):
So yeah, and I definitely thinkit's good that we're taking a
minute to acknowledge this.

SPEAKER_00 (02:38):
Yeah, and um and as travel agents, we are constantly
booking people on all of theirbucket list destinations, which
you do know that Jamaica is on alot of people's, and um you
never know when disasters aregonna strike.
I mean, I feel like with the wehave got more advanced warning

(02:59):
in with weather these days, butwe have clients that are still
stranded on Jamaica because thatairport closed like a week out
before before the hurricane evenstruck.
So I mean, I think that you cannever be overly prepared uh for
when you're booking your dreamtrip and you gotta kind of take
precautions because you neverknow what you're gonna

(03:21):
encounter.
So I think just briefly, let'stalk about the importance of I I
mean, I know you agree withthis, but I'm always all about
travel insurance when you'regoing on vacation because you
don't know what's gonna happen,right?

SPEAKER_01 (03:35):
Right, right.
And I think that's a topic thatum even some people might not
know what all it covers.
But I mean, it's not justcovering the cost of your trip,
right?
If there's a natural disaster.
So for example, let's say youare currently, you know, on an
island that's about to get hitor you know, during a storm and
you are covered by insurance andyou need to evacuate or adjust

(03:56):
your hotel nights, redo yourflights.
Okay, it covers all of thatstuff.
Um, even if you were to getinjured or hurt, you know, God
forbid, or anything like that,it does cover medical costs and
everything.
So it's not just aboutprotecting the money you spend
on your vacation, it's alsoprotecting all the unseen
things, right?
You know, as travel agents, wedo our best, we do our research,

(04:18):
but I can't control the weather,I can't control, you know,
construction means.

SPEAKER_00 (04:23):
What kind of travel agent are you?
Right?

SPEAKER_01 (04:25):
I know, right?
I mean, I I'm pretty good, but Iam I'm not all that, you know.
Um, but yeah, just a reminder todefinitely be prepared for
things we can't control.
Um and uh Katrina was definitelyan example.
I mean, we knew it was ahurricane, we knew it was
coming, but the devastation inthe aftermath was not something
we could have planned for.

SPEAKER_00 (04:44):
Right.
And what I will say, so thereare obviously a lot of
similarities to Katrina was acat five, Melissa coming into
Jamaica is a cat five.
Um but at least for Katrina,there was roads out.
They might have been blocked,but at least there's roads.
This is an island.
Jamaica is an island in themiddle of the Caribbean, like
there's nowhere to go except up.

(05:06):
They're trying to get up to ahigher ground, but then there's
mudslides, or we're looking at30 inches of rain.
I mean, my heart goes out to thepeople of Jamaica, just as I did
to Katrina.
I just it's it's it's justheartbreaking, but you just have
to we'll put links in therebecause there's gonna need to be
um cleanup.

(05:27):
But remember that Jamaica is anisland that is basing itself on
tourism.
So let's just have hearts rightnow and let's help, and we'll
put links for Red Cross and andany reading funds.
Jackie will go ahead and throwlinks in there.
But I think we need to rememberto be patient while there um is
not, you know, Jamaica is abucket list uh place to go and

(05:49):
the resorts are beautiful, butthere's people that live on that
island.
So, you know, my heart go monkgoes out to those people on this
island that this is their home,you know, beyond the resort
gates, this is their home.
Yeah.
So when they start cleaning up,we need to be ready to come back
as tourists and be there tohelp, you know, re-energize that
island.

SPEAKER_01 (06:10):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
And even just, you know, whenyou're thinking about paying for
a vacation and maybe you'relooking at the price, like, oh
wow, you know, that's a lot tojust spend on staying in a room
at a resort.
But it's a little bit more thanthat.
Like when you talk about thelocal people, if we're not there
traveling, they don't have a jobto go to to continue to make
money, to rebuild their lives.

(06:30):
So, yes, a vacation can be aconscious, helpful thing to do,
you know, for other people.
And especially coming throughwith Jamaica, like you said,
tourism is their main part oftheir economy.
So they are going to need thecleanup help and they are going
to need their businesses andtheir jobs to come back as soon
as possible.

(06:50):
Um, so yeah, so like Denisesaid, we will be putting in
links for you know the directrelief, the Red Cross, um, any
other information that we canfind.
Um, and especially things likeeven um with the embassy down
there for anyone traveling.
One quick note that we did kindof want to point out if you're
in another country, um,traveling internationally, etc.,

(07:12):
it is always a good idea toregister with the U.S.
Embassy to know, you know, whereyou are, where you're going to
be.
Okay.
And that can be just foryourself, for precautions.
God forbid, if anything were tohappen, it does help your loved
ones and your family in helpingthem find you if they were ever
in that situation.
Okay.

SPEAKER_00 (07:30):
Which we hope is not the case, but absolutely uh
we're just trying to point outas travel agents things that we
should you should be thinkingabout um beforehand and if
you're there.

SPEAKER_01 (07:43):
Still work, you can still we will have all of those
links down there for you guysand get that out there.
And you know, absolutely pleasefeel free to donate um anything
you can, right?
Obviously, it's a littledifferent, it's not something we
can, you know, drive down tolike New Orleans.
We we can all kind of cometogether and help, but there are
still things that we can do forJamaica.

SPEAKER_00 (08:02):
Yeah, absolutely.
And we definitely want to travelsmart.
And um, just wanted to take aminute to have our thoughts and
prayers go out to the people ofJamaica and honestly, whoever
else is in the path, because Iknow it's not over when it's
Jamaica.
I mean, it's headed up overCuba, it's headed up to uh you
know the Caribbean.
There's a lot of little islandsin there, um, Bahamas and NASA,

(08:25):
Trips and Caicos, all thoselittle islands.
So we are thinking of ourfriends and families and the
Caribbean, and um do what youcan't, and just stay safe out
there, people.
All right, bye bye, guys.