Piles of rubble, vacant lots, and skeleton frames of once vibrant hotels and resorts along coastal route 90 in Biloxi serve as a stark reminder of the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. But amidst the sea of destruction, a handful of resorts, like the just-opened Beau Rivage Resort and Casino, stand as beacons of hope for a city that plans to rebuild bigger and better than ever.

Unlike in New Orleans, where the tourism corridor was largely unscathed by Katrina, Biloxi's hospitality infrastructure was literally wiped out. Gone are the floating casino barges off Biloxi's white-sand beaches. Gone are most of the hotels, restaurants, and souvenir stores along the highway. Overall, approximately 200,000 buildings in the Gulfport-Biloxi region were damaged, at a cost of $125 billion, including about a dozen casinos and 17,500 hotel rooms. But residents are optimistic about the city's future.

Not only are the damaged casinos rebuilding, but several other major developers are planning to build in the area, including Foxwoods, Harrah's, Trump, and Landry Corp. (which owns Golden Nugget). “Before Katrina we had 12 casinos,” says Stephen Richer, executive director at the Mississippi Gulf Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau. “By 2010, we'll have 20 casinos,” he adds And that's just what's on the books now. Overall, the destination will have 30,000 hotel rooms and 600,000 square feet of meeting space by then, which is nearly twice what it had before Katrina. The Mississippi Coast Coliseum and Convention Center is also expanding, going from 180,000 square feet to 380,000 square feet.

And the recovery is already under way. On August 29 — the one-year anniversary of Katrina — the 1,740-room Beau Rivage reopened, just two weeks after the 500-room Harrah's Grand Biloxi Casino Hotel and Spa opened. Early next year, the Hard Rock will open. About 6,800 hotel rooms are now available, including The Palace, Imperial Palace, and Isle of Capri. The 1,088-room Imperial Palace is the only hotel that didn't close after Katrina, housing emergency workers until it opened to customers in December. Since then, business has been through the roof, with occupancy rates around 90 percent. The hotel underwent some minor Katrina-related repairs as well as some major renovations to reposition itself in the market. Over the last few months it opened an upscale lounge, sports bar, Brazilian restaurant, and spa.

In contrast to New Orleans, where locals say the rebuilding of neighborhoods is not moving quickly enough, the recovery in Biloxi is on a veritable fast track. Property owners and developers haven't had any roadblocks in getting insured compared to New Orleans, because the city is above sea level and there is no levee system to fix. Second, Biloxi has a group of high-powered political leaders who are all on the same page and from the same party — Republican — from the governor to the senators to the congressman. This made it easier to get the ball rolling on initiatives laid out in Governor Haley Barbour's recovery plan, which was approved last December. A big hurdle was the passage of a bill that allows casinos to be land-based.