Jacksonville Ready for Visitors After Rapid Recovery

Jacksonville is quickly rebounding.

On Monday, Visit Jacksonville announced that Florida's largest city's tourism industry is nearly fully recovered and open for business one week after Hurricane Irma walloped much of the region.

The marketing organization said historic flood waters have begun to recede and damage was mostly limited to residential areas along the riverfront.

Visit Jacksonville confirmed that "virtually all" of the destination's tourism infrastructure is open and operational. That includes hotels, restaurants, breweries and other attractions.

"We are fortunate that despite some riverfront areas in our historic neighborhoods flooding as a result of the storm, our beaches, hotels, park system, and attractions had very minor issues related to Irma and are back to normal," said Paul Astleford, President and CEO of Visit Jacksonville, in a statement. 

"We feel for the other areas which were hard hit and hope that they can recover as quickly as possible."

Local museums in Jacksonville are also open to the public and the city has no intention of canceling any of the special events it has planned heading into the fall.

Strong and ready to be your next destination for vacation! #JAX is open for business! #floridanow #onlyinjax #jaxstrong https://t.co/j0ikPxXAOc

— #OnlyInJax (@Visit_Jax) September 14, 2017

We're waiting for you...come visit #JAX! #floridanow #onlyinjax pic.twitter.com/E79uGUb0V9

— #OnlyInJax (@Visit_Jax) September 14, 2017

Only one of Jacksonville's 160 hotels sustained flood damage in wake of Irma. Repairs to the affected property are only expected to last two weeks.

Some water-damaged businesses have already begun the rebuilding process.

READ MORE: Florida, Southeast are Back in Business

In South Florida, Miami celebrated the lifting of its midnight curfew with a “Break the Curfew” party over the weekend. Like Jacksonville and other parts of the Southeast, Miami is ready to host visitors as a plethora of hotels, restaurants and other attractions have reopened since Irma.