A major dent in the tourism industry

HURRICANE Wilma, which pounded Mexico, then roared across Cuba and Florida and out into the Atlantic Ocean last week, left the tourism industry reeling in its wake. At the Travel section’s extended deadline Friday, another storm, Beta, was headed for the eastern coast of Nicaragua.

Wilma forced the closure of more than 20 airports, leaving thousands of travelers scrambling to deal with hundreds of canceled and delayed flights. It caused flooding and severely damaged hotels throughout the heavily visited Yucatan coast of Mexico and South Florida.

As of Friday, U.S. 1, the main access road to the Florida Keys, had reopened. The Upper Keys and Middle Keys had reopened to visitors, but Key West and the rest of the Lower Keys were not slated to receive visitors until Monday, said Andy Newman, spokesman for the Florida Keys & Key West tourism council.

Twenty-three Florida state parks sustained major damage and were closed. Dry Tortugas and Everglades national parks also were closed.

On Mexico’s Yucatan coast, some of the 40,000 tourists trapped in shelters, schools and damaged hotels for several days began catching flights home. The State Department set up a 24-hour task force to help Americans stranded overseas by Wilma, and its Overseas Citizens Services call center was handling queries from the public, at (888) 407-4747 or overseas at (202) 501-4444. It was posting updates at www.travel.state.gov.

The State Department also has issued a public announcement for Mexico in effect until Nov. 14 urging Americans “to carefully consider the risk of travel to the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico.”

Hotels: Hundreds of hotels in Florida and Mexico remained closed late last week. Cozumel and properties along the Riviera Maya suffered widespread damage, but two Riviera Maya hotels, El Dorado Royale and El Dorado Seaside Suites, owned by Karisma Hotels, predicted they would reopen Nov. 8.

In Cancun, 90% of the hotels sustained damage, said Mario Castro, a public works director for the city. The Cancun Visitors & Convention Bureau hoped most of the city’s roads would be cleared by the end of last week, and Paseo Kukulcan, the main road along the hotel zone, would be open.

“In 100 days, most [in the hotel zone] will be operational to receive tourists,” predicted Jorge Luis Tellez, a bureau spokesman. “Some hotels have the goal of being open for the Christmas holidays.”

But some, including two Marriotts and the Ritz-Carlton Cancun, expect to remain closed at least until Dec. 31. The Ritz-Carlton sustained significant damage, said Vivian Deuschl, corporate vice president of public relations for the luxury hotel chain. The hotel is offering those with reservations at the Cancun Ritz-Carlton a refund or the option of going to another Ritz-Carlton property.

The chain’s Florida properties fared fairly well, she said. The Ritz-Carlton Naples reopened Friday, and its Palm Beach property was waiting for power to be restored before it could open.

Besides its Cancun resorts, Marriott reported 16 hotels and resorts in Florida were closed due to power outages and damage. Updates were posted at www.marriott.com.

Starwood Hotel and Resort Group, which includes Sheraton and Westin, among others, was reporting its Westin and Sheraton properties in Cancun would be closed until Dec. 20. Most of its Florida properties were to reopen by the end of this week.

Airlines: Wilma disrupted operations and flight schedules throughout Florida and the Yucatan coast. As of Friday, airports in Miami and Fort Lauderdale were open, the latter to limited operations. Key West was open during daytime hours.

Cancun and Cozumel airports were damaged but reopened Tuesday. However, their operations were mostly limited to evacuations.

American, which has a hub in Miami and is a dominant carrier to the Caribbean and Latin America, was ferrying passengers out of Cancun and Cozumel late last week and did not know when full operations would resume, spokesman Tim Smith said. Service was back on track in Miami and was expected to return to normal in Fort Lauderdale this weekend. Flights to West Palm Beach resumed Friday; flights to Key West had not yet resumed.

Continental was evacuating passengers from Cancun and Cozumel through Friday. Power problems were hampering resumption of service to some South Florida airports, including Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale, said Martin DeLeon, an airline spokesman. Service to Miami had resumed.

The major carriers had relaxed ticket regulations to affected airports. Some offered refunds for canceled flights, extended deadlines and waived penalties for changes. For information, contact the airlines. For their phone numbers and websites, go to latimes.com/airlinephone.

Online travel agencies: Most of the major online travel agencies, including Orbitz, Expedia and Travelocity, were waiving their cancellation and change penalties in hurricane-affected areas as long as passengers notified the agencies in advance of travel.

Times wire services contributed to this report.