Empty Hotels. Idled Tour Buses. The Pandemic Is Devastating Tourism.

Most businesses in Sint Maarten, however, may not be so fortunate.

“Past four months,” Mr. Lee said, “I don’t know how they’ll survive.”

Similar hardship is sweeping the rest of the Caribbean, and it is made still worse by the unpredictable nature of the crisis.

“With a hurricane, it might damage or destroy a lot of your infrastructure, but it’s an event, and it ends, and you begin the recovery almost immediately,” said Johnson JohnRose, a communications specialist for the Caribbean Tourism Organization, a trade group based in Barbados. “This one — you don’t know when it’s ending.”

Across the region, hotel occupancy has plunged in the past several weeks and is expected to drop nearly to zero by the end of this week, said Frank J. Comito, chief executive and director general of the Miami-based Caribbean Hotel Tourism Association.

Some governments are scrambling to help cushion the impact on the tourism sector.

In Jamaica, Edmund Bartlett, the minister of tourism, said the government was planning to support businesses and employees through cash transfers, special grants, loan payment deferrals and new lines of credit.

“We are aware of the challenges and ripple effects of this pandemic as activities grind to a halt and questions surrounding job security arise,” he said.