The Courier: Enticing tourists to an “incredible country’’

Report

Issue Nr. IV (N.S.) – January/February 2008

Enticing tourists to an “incredible country’’

Beach scene near Les Cayes.

A three-day tour in November 2007 by a score of Japanese tourists made headline news in Haiti’s ‘Le Nouvelliste’ newspaper. What was special about this group is that they were not development workers, nor friends or family of UN personnel, nor conference-goers, all keeping Haiti’s hotels in business lately.

With another group of these “real” tourists from the Far East due early 2008, there’s optimism that vacationers are now being enticed back to Haiti.

Tourism has been singled out as a priority for the government to generate employment, revenue and growth, but lurring visitors back is still a huge public relations task. UN blue helmets are a common sight around the country, and will be so, for the foreseeable future. Sporadic kidnappings in exchange for cash reported in the international press, also, frighten tourists away. Rutted and pot-holed roads mean that country-wide sight-seeing appeals only to those with a sense of adventure.

On the other hand, it’s easy to see why the government is upbeat about the sector’s potential. There’s a huge variety of places to visit immersing visitors in the country’s rich history and culture, yet at the same time, you can enjoy the Caribbean’s big selling points: white sand and a laid back ambiance in most parts of the country. “Haiti is a cocktail of destinations,” explains Giliane César Joubert, Executive Director of Haiti’s Tourism Association.

Anne Rose Schoen Durocher, Director of the Advertising Company in Port-au-Prince, who has lived in Haiti for the past 28 years, first arriving as a guide for a leading European tour operator, says tourism was healthy in the 1970s. Then, one of the country’s most famous landmarks, ‘La Citadelle’, dramatically perched on ‘Pic-la-Ferrière’ built by King Henri Christophe to prevent against reinvasion from the French, used to see 600 visitors weekly. At the foot of the Citadelle are the remains of the Milot Sans Souci palace of Henri-Christophe, destroyed by an earthquake in 1842.

The sight of refugees in boats fleeing Haiti towards the end of the Duvalier years and the HIV crisis - which was not handled well from a PR point of view – scared tourists away and the sector never recovered, says Durocher: “The country went backwards very, very fast and tourism at the same speed. By 1986-1987 tourism was at a standstill,” she explains.

"Must-sees”

Her “must-sees” include Jacmel, a pretty 19th Century town, lost in time in the south, built by coffee traders with Victorian cast iron pillars and now associated with handicrafts. Cap Haitien in the north is Haiti’s 2nd city and near La Citadelle.

Les Cayes, built in 1720, is a laid back town in the south-west. “The south is totally unspoilt with miles of incredible sandy beaches,” says Durocher. Côte des Arcadins just to the North of Port-au-Prince also has stretches of sandy beach.

Tourists should not skip the heaving Port-au-Prince. Bang in the centre, the Champs de Mars built in 1953 and recently spruced up by President René Préval, is a sort of recreational space or meeting place, a stage for Haitians to see and be seen. In the same spot, the Musée d’Art Haitien houses a vast collection of naïve art. At the sight of the stark white Presidential Palace, imagine the comings and goings of Haiti’s rulers.

Not far away, Hotel Oloffson’s Thursday voodoo jazz evenings are not to be missed. Graham Greene’s Hotel Trianon in ‘The Comedians’ is known to be based on Hotel Oloffson, where he wrote part of the novel. Port-of-Prince’s numerous gingerbread houses feature Victorian embellished balconies, turrets, gables and sloping roofs. Up the hill, galleries in the commercial district of Pétionville are full of work by Haiti’s much sought after artists. Even further up at Botilliers, take in a bird’s eye view over Port-au-Prince.

Towards the north-west, Gonaives is where the independence of Haiti was declared on 1 January 1804 and on Haiti’s south-west finger, the Macaya National Park is the country’s remaining virgin cloud forest peak rising to 2347 m. Anne Rose Durocher is keen to share her passion: “We must show what an incredible country Haiti is.”

600,000 day trippers

With such few travellers spending a night in Haiti, it’s a surprise to learn from the Ministry of Tourism that as many as 600,000 visit the country annually. Nearly all are day trippers brought in on the cruise liner, ‘Liberty Overseas ’. The boat calls at the white sands of Labadie in the north 2-3 times per week, each sailing disembarking some 4300 tourists. Visitors are levied US$6, half of which goes to the Haitian government and the rest to the company that runs the beach facilities. With the Citadelle a mere hop away, there is the feeling that visitors could part with more cash on trips to this fortress in the sky, but poor infrastructure hampers tours, explains Paul Emile Simon, urban architect at the Ministry of Tourism.

There’s a lot of hope too for bi-national projects with the Dominican Republic, including development of Etang Saumâtre and Lago Enriquillo in the Dominican Republic. The lakes are in the same “ecological band,”explains Simon and share fauna, crocodiles, iguanas and flamingos. Simon sees opportunities for hotels and the golf facilities on the flat land that straddles the border area.

Some feel that Haiti should be offered as a “parallel destination” on a circuit taking in Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Cuba. Although there are very good quality family run hotels in Haiti, the country would benefit from investment by an international chain, feels ATH’s Giliane Joubert.

There’s encouragement given too to Haiti’s diaspora to invest more in the sector. The ‘Haiti Tourism Development Summit’ organised by the MWM Associates, Port-au-Prince, 20-22 June 2008, will look amongst other things at how private public-partnerships can work together to develop the sector.

Debra Percival

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