14271: Pierre Jean: Re: 14260: Lyall on Visas (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Pierre Jean <pierrejean01@yahoo.com>

Allow me to take a different view on tourism in Haiti
at present.

1. The few tourists that do come to Haiti mostly come
from the Dominican Republic. However, given that the
Dominican tour-operators have set up what at best can
be called a "poverty tour" of Haiti i.e. let's go
visit a family that leaves in a mud-covered hut with a
thatched roof, or let's go to a voodoo ceremony way
out in the woods, and we'll finish with a quick visit
of the citadelle, I am not sure that we really benefit
from that tourism. Guides at Sans-Souci and the
Citadelle will tell you that they make more money from
the diaspora than from the europeans that come from
the DR.

2. There are very FEW tourists from the DR who spend
more than 2 days in Haiti. I am not sure where you get
your one-week information from. The buses that used to
come from Puerto-Plata would either go back the same
day or overnight in Cap-Haitien at one of the hotels
and return the following day.

3. It is true that a $100 visa is not friendly to
tourism, as the ATH has rightly pointed out, but can
anyone tell me whether we should rely on tourism at
all at this point? When the Haitian government sets up
a coherent tourism plan, then maybe we can re-visit
the issue.

4. Crossing the border to go to the DR may be free in
some places, but a tourist card typically costs $10.

5. Actually, the move by the government is shrewder
than you make it out to be. If financial income is the
primary motive, than the amount of funds raised by
this increase will more than offset the loss due to
the number of people who will no longer come because
of the fee. You are assuming that the government is
driving away "pure" tourists, but their impact on the
local economy is so negligible compared to that of
volunteers and missionaries, who will come anyway even
if in smaller numbers, that they may not matter at
present. Once toursim is deemed a priority, then there
should be a lower visa fee for tourists.


--- Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu> wrote:
>
> From: J.David Lyall <david@lyalls.net>
>
> I  spent six weeks vacationing in Haiti on my second
> visit, then visited
> for more than two months at least every year for the
> past 5 years.
>
> "Resorts" at which one spends a week or two weeks do
> not exist
> en Hayti and do not interest the type of travellers
> who are interested
> in Hayti anyway.
>
> It is true that it is expensive to get into the usa.
> As far as I know
> it is still free to get into the republic dominican,
> which also has
> resort hotels.
>
> Quite a few of the 'tourists' one sees in haiti have
> been in the DR
> and are taking a one week jaunt into haiti to see
> Citadel/Okap or
> Jacmel. A one hundred dollar fee will certainly
> eliminate that traffic.
>
> If haiti simply wants to cut its own throat to spite
> some imaginary
> slight (a familiar tactic in haiti) then this is a
> very successful gambit.
>
>


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