Experience a Caribbean destination with a difference
Carnival, beaches, Historical sites, and a Rich culture are just some of the attractions for Visitors prepared to step off the beaten track

Haiti has plenty on offer for the vacationer and the government sees further development of the tourism sector as a key element in its plan for economic recovery

The bicentennial celebrations offer a golden opportunity for Haiti to sell itself as a tourist destination, both to Haitian expatriates who want to rediscover their roots and to foreign travellers in search of something different. As a vacation destination, the country has a surprisingly diverse product, of which the Haitian people’s distinctive culture is an important component.

This manifests itself through popular art, including the naïf paintings of everyday life that have become collectors’ items, the vivid colors used to decorate houses, even the flamboyant converted trucks and vans that serve as buses—the taptaps—every square inch of which are covered with intricate designs, mirrors, and charms.
Carnival offers particularly wild spectacles each year, especially in the charming colonial town of Jacmel on the south coast, where people don fantastic costumes and wear extravagant papier-mâché masks, turning themselves into animals or mysterious spirits.

Though the capital Port-au-Prince has developed into a crowded metropolis, there are still islands of tranquillity there, such as the historic Hotel Oloffson, with its delicate ironwork, that has become a place of pilgrimage for fans of the novels by the late Graham Greene. A short distance up into the hills outside the capital, one finds oneself in the calmer, more elegant surroundings of Petionville, with a wide range of comfortable hotels, smart restaurants, and boutiques.

However, the most historically significant site in Haiti is up on the north coast, at Cap Haïtien, where an extraordinary defensive citadel crowns a rocky hill. Old cannon balls are piled up in their thousands, reminding one of a period when the Caribbean was the scene of bitter rivalry between the European colonial powers.

Nearby, the bay of Labadie is the favorite stopping place for cruise ships passing by, giving their passengers just a few hours’ taste of one of the region’s richest cultures. The government is eager to entice more cruise liners to include Labadie on their itinerary, and to develop other potential ports of call.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Haiti’s charms became well-known to U.S. visitors and some of the international jet-set even acquired vacation homes there.

MARTINE DEVERSON Minister of Tourism

The country’s Ministry of Tourism, which has only been in existence for three years, has the mission to reestablish that situation, though the Minister in charge, Martine Deverson recognizes that it could take several years to develop facilities and services that would put Haiti on a par with some of its neighbors. For her, training is a key issue.

“Training personnel for the different trades associated with tourism is important, not just in the hotel sector, but all the other services involved,” she says. “We have got tourist attractions, beautiful sites for people to visit, but they need to be managed better. So our aim is to give better training to travel agency staff involved in tourism promotion.”

Ms. Deverson believes that the local population also needs to be educated about tourism and the benefits it can bring them. Building a hotel or resort in an area can provide a new focus and new job opportunities for the local population.

Development needs to be carried out sensitively, in consultation with an area’s inhabitants. Properly handled in this way, the tourism sector can become a launch-pad for community regeneration and development.
“Tourism here is becoming a tool to help people re-evaluate their traditions, as well as helping fight against poverty,” the Minister says, citing the particular example of an eco-tourism project at Valu, near Petit Goave, where the advent of tourism is used to help preserve the environment as well as to provide a market for local produce.

Small-scale developments are taking place in several parts of the country, some of them linked together in tour routes that have been devised as part of the 2004 celebrations, which Ms. Deverson sees as a niche market.
“Lots of people would like to know our country and our people,” she says. “This was the first black republic in the world, the first revolution of its kind to produce the results that it did. It was really a revolution in favor of respecting human rights. So 2004 is an exceptional event for Haiti and for black people.”

Two commemorative books are being produced, to make people more aware of the country’s historical significance as well as its tourist potential. “One will be a deluxe edition, and the other for students,” Ms. Deverson explains. “We will identify 11 tour itineraries that will be covered in the books, within the framework of 2004. We’ll be stressing the value of our heritage, and working with the Ministry of Culture to set up a system of management of the sites concerned.”

Expanding the range of high-quality accommodation is a major priority for the government’s tourism strategy; officials are well aware of the exacting standards demanded by American vacationers, as well as the high level of competition offered by other Caribbean destinations. Currently, Haiti lacks the usual range of familiar hotel chains, but a 265-bedroom Hilton is being built in Port-au-Prince, with estimated investment costs of around US$60 million.

Undoubtedly, tourism is potentially the most attractive sector for investment in Haiti at the moment. Ms. Deverson sees one of her most important roles as being to facilitate the process. “We are there to help partners with their investment,” she says. “We will work alongside investors to help them get things done quickly.”