How Business Was Battered by Irma
“If you’ve lost a day, you’ve lost that day and you can’t get it back.”
Roughly 100 sites shut down across the state in advance of the storm, including the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex
and the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, according to the Florida Attractions Association.
AIR Worldwide, a catastrophe modeling firm in Boston, predicted on Monday
that Irma’s insured damage in the United States would cost the industry $20 billion to $40 billion.
“This is a really hard loss — hundreds of millions of dollars in aggregate for the industry down there.”
Last year, 68 million tourists visited Orlando, and more than 70 million were expected this year, Mr. Speigel said.
The big national carriers like State Farm and Allstate cut back on writing homeowners’ insurance
in Florida years ago, citing catastrophic risks and unhelpful state regulators.
But once firms assess the condition of their fleets, many are expected to work with federal
and state agencies and insurance adjusters to make vehicles available for rent to assist in recovery efforts.