#3088: Re: tourism (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From:KKLARREICH@aol.com

Headline:  Tourism could boost Haiti's economy
Byline:  Kathie Klarreich, Special to The Christian Science Monitor
Date: 03/31/2000

(PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI)
Feel like being alone on a two-mile stretch of white sand beach, taking a
swim with dolphins in the Caribbean sun, or hiking a mountain trail laced
with waterfalls? Sounds like an ideal vacation - but couldn't be in Haiti,
right?

Think again. After years of political instability, violence, and poverty
drove tourists away from what once was referred to as the Pearl of the
Antilles, Haiti is again promoting itself as a tourist destination in the
Caribbean.

The long-term potential for tourism is high, tourism industry experts here
say, and could help Haiti lift itself from its economic morass.

"Tourism is the only possible source of revenue for the country," says
Patrick Delatour, architect of the master plan for the development of
tourism in Haiti.

The office of the Secretary of State for Tourism hopes to increase its
hotel rooms from 1,800 to 4,000 and employ 30,000 people by 2004, Haiti's
200-year anniversary.

State Tourism employee Berthide Noailles says some other goals include
revamping the southern coastal town of Jacmel, developing the country's
national heritage and tourist attractions, such as the Citadelle in the
north, and rehabilitating the country's coastal area.

But the road is literally and figuratively laced with potholes. Less than a
quarter of the country's 2,580 miles of roads are paved. State supplied
electricity is at best sporadic, available to less than half the population
in the capital, and only 3 percent in the rest of the country. There are
just 64,000 telephone lines (6 per 1,000 inhabitants).

"We are aware of the reality of our country," Ms. Noailles says. "We know
that Haitians prefer to take their vacations outside of Haiti, just like we
know that it is difficult to attract foreigners to take their vacations
here."

The world's largest cruise ship, Voyages of the Sea, docks for a few hours
off Haiti's northern coast, but passengers stay only in a restricted beach
area. They are told they are going to Labadie, a small island in the
Caribbean, not that Labadie is Haiti.

The lush, tropical feeling of the country's five-star hotels, all located
in the capital's metropolitan area, provide room service, cable television,
and international phone lines. But the rooms look out on haphazardly built
tin shacks that have no electricity or running water.

Club Med closed in May 1999, citing lack of business, though Haitian
officials say they expect it will reopen.

Jacqualine Labrom, an independent travel agent, recently struck a deal with
Coco Tours, which brings 1,000 Scandinavians per week to the Dominican
Republic for a two-week stay. Ms. Labrom knew that she couldn't sell Haiti
as a two-week destination stop, but she offers a two-day side trip to Haiti
that brings about 70 guests per week. Tourists visit the capital, sample
indigenous fare, and shop for handicrafts at a mountainside gift store.

Coco tours also stops at the popular Oloffson Hotel in the only leafy
section of the capital. Although hotel owner Richard Morse profits from the
business, he is reluctant to promote Haiti to the uninformed tourist.

"When you're looking for a symphony and somebody gives you a few notes,
it's a nice melody, but it's not what you're looking for," he says.
"Tourism is such a huge endeavor. [The government] started publicizing
tours before [it] fixed the airport. If someone gets sick at the beach, or
the tour bus has a flat tire, what do you do? There are no phones, no
medical service, no roads."

It's because of such inconveniences that Haitians who can afford to often
prefer to take a weekend break in the United States, or travel across the
border to the Dominican Republic.

"I keep saying, why go to Miami and the Dominican Republic, why not get to
know Haiti?" tour guide Labrom says.

One of the destinations Labrom offers is the renovated hotel Relais de
l'Empereur in Petit Goave, a two-hour drive southwest of the capital.

Zachee Michel, a former Wall Street broker, left Haiti in 1966. But
he returned in 1991 to fix up the dilapidated home of Haitian Emperor
Faustin Soulouque, who lived there from 1849-1856.

The reception area of the brick structure is scattered with small tables
holding chess boards. Large wooden doors open onto the town's central
square. Steep stairs lead to the 10 guest rooms. Each looks out on a
mountain or seaside vista, and all are outfitted with four-poster beds and
porcelain bathtubs with gold-plated fixtures. The hotel also offers a boat
trip to its private stretch of sandy beach, barbecue included.

It's impossible to get a room on the weekend without a reservation. "People
are curious," Mr. Michel says. "They want to explore different things. They
want a break from the jet-set life. There are people who come here
precisely because we offer something different - it's our asset."

Destination DjonDjon, which means mushroom in Creole, is a coalition of
local groups that formed in 1998 to promote tourism. The group offers
everything from sleeping on a straw-mat in a ti kay pay (thatched-roof
house), to eating locally prepared food by candlelight, or attending a
Vodou ceremony.

"We created Destination DjonDjon to help develop the natural and historic
[wealth] in rural areas," says Celine Chauvel, who heads Haiti's
Alternative Tourism Program for Association Francaise des Volontaires du
Progres, a French nongovernmental agency. "But we know that the
first thing we have to have is training, because the groups can't promote
themselves without a qualified product."

Many of the groups are new, and lack experience dealing with tourists. But
others, like the most established member of Destination DjonDjon, DOA/BN
(Delegations, Orientations, Local Production with Bluntschli and Nicolas)
has been providing historical and cultural guided tours throughout Haiti
since 1992. Participants can experience life in the countryside, says
co-founder Carla Bluntschli, "to give the outside world a chance to really
explore Haiti at its most beautiful, richest level."

Despite the briefings, some tourists are surprised by what they see. Vibele
Starkas, an office educator in Denmark, says, "It's hard to reconcile the
difference between my life in Denmark and the lives of the people I see
here."

But others, like Bente Knusden, a Danish government employee, says she's
glad she came. "I knew that there was a very big difference between the
rich and poor in some parts of the world. But now I understand that some
people can pay their taxes, and some people really can't."