Reasons to boast

Antigua is telling the world it has bounced back after Hurricane Luis

Author: By Zachary R. Dowdy, Globe Staff

and Lisa I.S. Archibald, Globe Correspondent

Date: SUNDAY, October 19, 1997

Page: M4

Section: Travel

The island's ideal weather, delicious foods, and awe-inspiring celebrations are fabled the world over, but, until recently, were all but afterthoughts to locals here.

That all changed in September 1995, when Hurricane Luis passed through like a juggernaut, razing the island's prized getaways, shattering the image of paradise, and wounding the collective pride of the country. All of the eastern Caribbean was struck on those two fateful days, but Antigua was hit hardest, getting some $500 million in damages.

Luis sounded a wake-up call that touched a raw nerve of nationalism much like the drive that led to Antigua's independence from Great Britain 15 years ago.

Massive relief efforts sparked by expatriates in Boston and New York City helped Antiguans cope with the disaster's physical and psychological toll. But now, they look back on the deadly storm as a mixed blessing. If nothing else, tourism and the dollars that come from it would no longer be taken for granted.

``I think we're much better off now,'' said Bernard S. Percival, minister of education, sports, youth, and community development, who was minister of tourism when Luis struck. ``Almost all of the hotels have reopened, and many of them have expanded. I also think people's attitudes have changed.''

Indeed, attitudes have changed as much as the resorts have improved.

Picture Robin Leach, the jet-set chronicler of ``Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous'' , shooting a video to promote for tourists the country he calls home -- and at no expense to the government of Antigua.

Consider that, for the first time, Antigua hired a marketing firm to pitch its gems: the magnificent coral reefs, the water sports, the bustling downtown areas, at a cost of $160,000 in a serious effort to improve Antigua's tarnished image. An additional $500,000 for image overhaul was just approved by the government.

To Peter Ramrattan, chairman of the Antigua Hotels and Tourist Association, the money was a wise investment that preserved the country's lifeblood: tourism. It accounts for a whopping 90 percent of Antigua's gross domestic product. At least 7,000 jobs are directly related to tourism in a nation that is home to 60,000 people. Some 35 percent of those who visit and spend money in the tiny shops of St, John's or at the food stands along the streets of Five Islands Village, come from America, Antigua's single biggest client.

``Frankly, consumers are demanding more for their money,'' Ramrattan said, adding that a survey of 30 of the country's 50 hotels by dozens of German travel agents found that overall the resorts scored an 82 percent performance rating, impressive but not perfect. The review made hoteliers rethink their roles.

Yes, Sailing Week in the last week of April and the first week of May has always drawn thousands of boating and sailing fans to Antigua, and for good reason. It's one of the largest sailing events in the world.

But now, on a smaller scale, Antigua hosts Village Night, which celebrates the local music, dance, customs, and food by holding an event in a new village each month. It's a day that locals are decked out in national celebratory garb like ambassadors, building respect for Antigua from outsiders and patriotism from natives.

Staff members at the hotels have been retrained to emphasize courtesy in service. They greet visitors with bigger smiles than before.

Word about an improved Antigua has begun to spread. Ramrattan said the first few months of 1997 carried a 20 percent rise in tourist volume over pre-Luis days. Air Jamaica has started three daily flights out of New York City.

And the island itself is in for an upgrade as designers and hoteliers huddle to add 2,000 hotel rooms to the 3,000 existing today, a 66 percent increase in capacity, over the next three to five years.

``There are a lot of things on the drawing board,'' Ramrattan said.

It's safe to say that Antigua is back, and better than ever. Ask Sylvester Itoyah of Sandals, who'll introduce you to Samson and Delilah, two talkative (she moreso than he) parrots with fiery red, cobalt blue, and sunshine yellow feathers, as he tours the resort rumored as a Lovers' Paradise. This all-inclusive resort for couples was barely touched by Luis but it, too, felt the economic doldrums that all of Antigua suffered as tourists stayed away for a year after the hurricane.

At Pineapple Beach and Hawksbill, they've added rooms and conveniences to accommodate their renewed flow of tourists after pumping $6.5 million and $2.5 million, respectively, into the hotels, both of which sit on lush greens with lazy pineapple and banana palms towering over beachfront bungalows.

Hawksbill's ``clothing optional'' beach, one of four beaches on the sprawling site, is a favorite, while Pineapple Beach's ``Out House,'' a hilltop, open-air version of your most homey college-town dive, but overlooking an ocean and downwind from humid and sweet tropical breezes, shapes lasting memories for many guests.

``The hurricane gave us the opportunity to upgrade our property,'' said Bill Furlonge, manager of Pineapple, a 135-room, all-inclusive hotel whose rooms range from $450 to $480 per night. The beach's edge sits only 20 feet beyond the terraces of the waterfront property.

Galley Bay, too, is expanding after being closed for a full year after the storm. It opened in January and added 27 new rooms, reaching a total of 61 rooms ranging in style from the Gauguin cottages, reminiscent of the Impressionist painter's work on models near thatch-roofed homes in Tahiti, to the more common seaside suite variety.

Club Antigua, part of a complex known as the largest in the eastern Caribbean, boasts the most for vacationing families, including day care and fun, educational programs for small children, casinos, sports, and night life for adults. It was one of the few complexes that hardly missed a beat because of Luis.

The exclusive, all-inclusive, Jumby Bay was closed for five months after Luis's trek along the 300-acre island that squats a 10-minute ferry ride off the Antiguan mainland. Roofs and landscaping were ravaged, causing the resort to pump $11 million into renovations. Now, those suites and villas, which rent from $1,050 to $1,700 per night, are even more plush than before Luis's visit. But even this resort, where Robin Leach lounges in his Casa di Sogni D'Oro, had to get serious about shoring up its demanding customers.

``We got more aggressive,'' said Cicely Gomes, rooms division manager at the 39-room resort, 85 percent of whose clientele are repeat guests. One of the most exclusive getaways in the world, the island offers its guests and year-round residents like Leach privacy amid the finest accommodations.

Gomes said that since Jumby Bay reopened in February 1996, its sales have surpassed those of years past. She added that 55 percent of her clientele is American.

Gomes also said the resort has shifted its focus, concentrating on the details that maximize a guest's comfort while providing fine international cuisine rather than home-grown entertainment.

``We found that people would rather have a first-class meal than listen to a steel band,'' Gomes said. Hurricane Luis showed that that kind of flexibility in the capricious field of tourism is perhaps Antigua's most valuable staple crop.