BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC):

Tourism officials in Eastern Caribbean countries on Saturday reported that the vital sector remained relatively unscathed after their brush with a fast-moving Hurricane Dean a day earlier.

In Castries, Minister of Tourism Allen Chastanet said St. Lucia was "open for business" and had already welcomed new visitors from Europe, North America and the Caribbean after the two airports there reopened early Saturday morning.

He said hoteliers had not reported any significant damage to their properties and government authorities were making admirable progress cleaning up debris that was littered throughout the island.

Director of Tourism Maria Fowell said airlines had scheduled additional services to move delayed passengers between San Juan, Puerto Rico, and the island.

Guests safe

In Dominica, Tourism Minister Ivor Nassief said all the visitors staying in hotels there were safe, noting that the tourist industry had not been badly affected by Hurricane Dean.

"By and large the tourism industry has fared pretty well; we had about 350 paid guests on the island and they were all safe," Nassief reported.

He said his ministry had made contact with all hotels except one on the southern part of the island - the area hardest hit by Dean.

"We are hoping to hear something from them; efforts to reach them by phone have so far not been successful, but I know that they had a very good disaster plan in place and they had a secure building to relocate the guests," the minister said.

The Dominica Tourist Board, in a statement Saturday, said while the damage was still being assessed, "the impact of Hurricane Dean, which passed over the island Friday, was far less destructive than anticipated".

The statement said all tourists who remained in the country are safe with minimum damage being reported by hotels.