Puerto Rico's tourist industry feels economic sting of Zika

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — It was the wedding of one of her best friends, and Natalie Kao was going to be a bridesmaid in a fun, tropical setting on a small island just off the east coast of Puerto Rico.

Kao, pregnant with twins, knew the mosquito-borne Zika virus has been linked to a rare birth defect in a tiny percentage of cases.

[...] worries about the virus are starting to affect the tourism industry, which had been one of the few bright spots in an otherwise dismal economy.

[...] people have cited Zika in the cancellation of at least 42,000 hotel room reservations through 2018, which translates to about $28 million in lost revenue for the lodging, restaurant and tour industry, said Ingrid Rivera, executive director of Puerto Rico's Tourism Company.

Global health officials issued an alert after detecting it in Brazil in May 2015 and it has been spreading rapidly through the Western Hemisphere, carried by the common Aedes aegypti mosquito.

[...] it has now been linked to microcephaly, a rare defect in which babies are born with abnormally small heads and brain damage as well as to the unusual paralyzing condition known as Guillain-Barre syndrome.

Tourism represents only about 7 percent of Puerto Rico's economy, but money generated by visitors has been growing in recent years while other sectors have shrunk during a 10-year recession and the struggle of the territory's government to handle a spiraling public debt.

Kao said she loves Puerto Rico and has visited the island multiple times, but noted that her pregnancy is her priority, like some of the other wedding guests who canceled.