PORT VILA – A week after Tropical Cyclone Pam left a path of destruction in Vanuatu, planning has begun to revive the country’s valuable tourism industry.

The category five cyclone caused extensive damage in the capital Port Vila and to several outer islands, but the biggest island, Espiritu Santo, is largely intact.

Some operators are already back in business, but others say they need more time to rebuild.

Tourism accounts for about 20 per cent of the South Pacific nation’s economy.

Vanuatu Tourism Office general manager Linda Kalpoi, said she plans to attend an industry meeting early next week to discuss the status of the industry.

“What’s important for us is to get the destination ready and be able to receive our visitors,” Kalpoi said.

“The Island of Santo – basically it’s open for business,” she said.

Commercial pilot Simon Turner would usually be flying tourists to the southern island of Tanna to see its spectacular active volcano at this time of year.

But since the cyclone, he has been flying aid to outer islands and conducting inspection flights for officials, aid agencies and the media.

Turner, the chief executive officer of Air Taxi Vanuatu, said he hoped to resume scenic flights for tourists soon.

“The weather’s been absolutely gorgeous the last three or four days, which has made our flying operations easy and Vanuatu is still the tropical paradise it always has been, just needs a bit of a tidy up, that’s all,” he said.

Vanuatu’s airstrips are being cleared of debris and airports repaired.

The cyclone tore a section of the roof off the terminal building at Whitegrass airport on Tanna, but an airport official told Turner it was almost fixed.

“He said within a week they’ll have that repaired,” Turner said.

Simon Fraser,the chief executive officer for Digicel Vanuatu said most airports and airstrips in Vanuatu are pretty basic, so it does not take much to get them operational again.

The cyclone also brought down many mobile phone towers, causing havoc with Vanuatu’s communications.

Tanna and other outer islands were out of touch.

“I think communication is one of the most important aspects to running a tourism operation here,” Fraser said.

Vanuatu’s main phone companies are progressively restoring services around the country.

Re-establishing the tourism industry will also involve re-educating tourists about what to expect on a visit to Vanuatu.

“Vanuatu really needs to focus on communicating to the potential visitor, the actual status of the destination and what there is available,” said Gabby Walters, a lecturer and researcher in the School of Business at the University of Queensland.

She said tourists could play an important role in restoring one of Vanuatu’s biggest industries.

“If they want to assist Vanuatu in the recovery, the best way to do so is to take a holiday there,” she said.