Anguilla has bounced back from Hurricane Irma, and Canadians played a major role.

Anguilla Tourism officials put on a lovely reception and dinner in Toronto on Wednesday night at the Four Seasons Hotel, where TravelPulse Canada caught up with Cardigan Connor, the country’s parliamentary secretary responsible for tourism, youth and culture.

Connor said the island has rebounded nicely and is ready to welcome tourists with an even stronger product than before.

“Belmond Cap Juluca, one of our top hotel and resorts, opened just this week,” he said. “They spent more than $100 million on renovations, so it looks fantastic. They had planned to close for renovations for a bit of time, anyway.”

Connor said the lovely CuisinArt Resort, located next to a golf course and along one of the island’s many long, sandy, white beaches, also recently re-opened after major restoration work. I stayed there a few years ago and found it terrific; with great food, a beautiful spa and a wonderful beach.

The Four Seasons on Anguilla and the lovely, fresh Zemi Beach House re-opened some time ago. Zemi Beach House, in fact, was one of the first on the island to re-open after the storm hit in September, 2017.

Malliouhana, an Auberge Resort, is expected to re-open on Friday of this week.

“Canada is our second-biggest market so it’s very important to us,” Connor said. “Canadians are frequent travellers to the Caribbean, and for us in Anguilla they’re probably our favourite visitors. After the hurricane, 45 Canadian electrical workers came to Anguilla to help restore our electricity. They were absolutely wonderful ambassadors for Canada and we really and truly appreciate the work they did.”

The hurricane damage was obviously unfortunate, but Connor said many hotels and resorts used the storm as an opportunity to do work they had long been thinking about and gave them a chance to “rejuvenate.”

“After a year of restoration they’re coming back better than ever. Anguilla was recently voted number one in the Caribbean by Travel + Leisure readers, the second year in a row.

“The spirit of our people is highly positive, and everyone is looking forward to the 2018/2019 season. We’re sure it will be our best ever. We regarded Anguilla as extraordinary in the past, and our intention is that we go beyond that going forward.”

Anguilla measures just 35 square miles but has 33 beaches, some of them ranked frequently as among the best in the world. Shoal Bay East, Meads Bay and Rendezvous Bay.

Further information: www.ivisitanguilla.com