Gov. Rick Scott

says the Florida Keys “are absolutely open” for tourism business, despite the fact that significant work remains throughout the Keys to erase scars left by Hurricane Irma.

Gov. Rick Scott, seeking to recapture tourism lost over the past month to Hurricane Irma, said Wednesday that the Florida Keys “are absolutely open for business.”

But even as he talked up the post-storm renewal of Florida’s largest industry, significant work remained throughout the Keys to erase the scars left by Irma, which made landfall Sept. 10 in Cudjoe Key, less than 30 miles northeast of Key West.

Robert Spottswood, CEO of Spottswood Companies in Key West, said the goal for the entire 125-mile island chain is to get “back to normal at some point in time.”

Reopening the Keys is considered vital to Florida’s tourism industry, which was on pace to top last year’s 113 million visitors before Irma. “We know that the sooner the Keys are able to welcome tourists back ... the faster the Keys as a whole is going to be able to recover,” said Cissy Proctor, executive director of the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.

The Keys modestly reopened to tourists Sunday, meeting a deadline set by Scott, after having been closed to non-residents since just before the powerful storm swept through the islands and most of the rest of the state.

In a news conference Wednesday at the Key West Marriott Beachside Hotel, Visit Florida President and CEO Ken Lawson, Scott’s tourism-marketing chief, said that “although we took a punch to the face, we’re standing back up.”

Key West tourism officials posted a series of photos Sunday showing life returning to normal, from people strolling into the Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum to repair work under way on the iconic “Southernmost Point” buoy, which has stood at South Street and Whitehead Street since 1983.

The Port of Key West has reopened to cruise ships. Key West International Airport has reopened. Florida Keys Marathon International Airport is handling general aviation and charter flights again.

But as state officials talked of the importance of the upcoming tourism season, Monroe County officials continued to advise prospective visitors that lodging, including RV resorts and other facilities throughout the Keys, have yet to return to normal operations.

“Potential visitors should call ahead to ensure hotels and their favorite attractions are open,” the county tourism website said Sunday. “Some hotels are accommodating displaced residents under a Federal Emergency Management Agency program. Some properties require just a few more weeks to reopen, while others need months.”

The Islamorada Resort Co. estimated it might take up to six months to stagger the reopening of four resorts: Postcard Inn Beach Resort & Marina, Amara Cay Resort, La Siesta Resort & Marina and Pelican Cove Resort & Marina.

Motorists driving through the Keys are still being warned about navigating the Lower Keys and parts of Marathon, where many residences and businesses were hardest hit by the storm.

“Throughout the Keys, there are debris piles that are being picked up by cleanup contractors,” the tourism website noted.

The storm disrupted businesses nearly statewide, even temporarily closing many Orlando attractions.