---
title: A Year After Hurricane Melissa, Jamaica Is Open
description: A year after Hurricane Melissa, Jamaica's airports and most resort areas are open, but a dozen Montego Bay resorts stay closed into 2027.
author: Dr Marina Nani (Editor-in-Chief)
date: 2026-10-28T10:06:19.567Z
updated: 2026-10-28T10:06:19.589Z
canonical: https://richtravelmagazine.com/article/is-it-safe-to-travel-to-jamaica-after-hurricane-melissa
image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/negril-seven-mile-beach-jamaica-503928.webp
categories: Destinations
content_type: News
region: Jamaica
publication: Rich Travel Magazine
access: members
schema_type: Article
---

Jamaica's airports, cruise ports and most of its resort towns are working again a year after Hurricane Melissa made landfall on October 28, 2025, but its hotels are not all back. The Jamaica Tourist Board says every cruise port and every international and domestic airport is operational. Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett said in September that formal accommodation stood at 70% of capacity and would reach about 80% by December 15, when the winter season officially starts. "But our actual arrival into the country is running at 80 per cent of last year," he said.

About 15,000 hotel rooms were out of service after the storm, Bartlett told the government's Jamaica Information Service on September 17, 2026. "About 6,000 were reopened over the period, and we have 9,000 to go... we should make that 9,000 complete by the first quarter of 2027." An estimated 20 hotels were still closed as of October 1, 2026, the Associated Press reported.

## Melissa Was the Strongest Hurricane Ever Recorded in Jamaica

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