Travel and Tourism

Many of you may t be aware of this; however there will be a boom in the tourism industry in Haiti. The important players want to get into the act. The latest is Florida Orlando International Airport as the just announced that they are exploring the possibility of offering direct flights to Port-au-Prince.

Orlando is one of the major metropolitan areas where Haitian immigrants reside in the United states, beside the greater Miami, New York, Boston, and Atlanta areas. These five cities account for nearly three-quarters of the total number of Haitians living in the United States.

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Hotel group Decameron All Inclusive Hotels & Resorts is set to become a presence in Haiti. Last November 2014 it arrived on the island on a fact-finding mission, and it has now been made public it will invest in the building of a new beach front property, which it will also manage. The hotel will be the first to colonize Haiti's spectacular coastline. Representatives of Decameron arrived in Haiti this week to complete the terms of the agreement, which will open up more opportunities for similar kinds of development projects in the future, helping the country with its economic expansion.

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Delta Airlines has not been able to keep up with the competition over Haiti. The company will stop its daily flights from New York to Port-au-Prince this month (March, 2015). Their Saturday flights will continue uninterrupted until April 25, 2015

According to the spokesperson for Delta that decision to reduce and eventually eliminate service to Haiti if things do not pick up is due to a decrease in demand. Ongoing competition from American Airlines followed by recent actors such as Jetblue providing daily service to Haiti had an impact on their sales.

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As per recent announcement by the Delta Airline to the Haitian Times on March 27 2015, the airline will no longer continue its daily service between New York's John F. Kennedy (JFK) airport and Port-au-Prince. However, the Saturday service of the Atlanta-based carrier will continue until April 25. Although, the airline authority has confirmed its commitment to Haiti, but, due to a decreased demand, they have to reduce the number of flights to Port-au-Prince. New York travelers can connect the Haitian capital via daily Atlanta-Port-au-Prince service, which was inaugurated back in April 07, 2012. Delta Airlines had launched its nonstop daily service between New York's JFK Airport and Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on June 20, 2009, for the first time in about 50 years.
Haiti's strong opportunity for tourism growth, which was marked by this major expanded airline service seems to have an adverse impact such withdrawal. Currently, JetBlue Airways serves Port-au-Prince with daily non-stop service from JFK and twice-daily service from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. They will begin Boston's Logan International Airport to Port au Prince from June 17 onward.

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New Airspace Modernization Project completed on time for Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haitien International Airports

Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haitien International Airports have been modernized with the creation of a new airspace design. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) and Airbus ProSky partnered for the project that puts into place a modern airspace design, with an integrated Performance-Based Navigation (PBN) system and new operating procedures.

Immediately following Haiti's 2010 earthquake the project began. And it was urgent due to the massive damage the quake did to the aviation infrastructure. Air carriers Air France, American Airlines, and JetBlue also came on board to get involved in the airspace redesign concept.

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The opening of Haiti's newest hotel, only the second in the country that is internationally branded, is being heralded as a new hope for the country. What it also could become, is a viable new hotel model within the region, bringing a functionality to the expected luxury that could well benefit the host country where it matters, their GDP. The effort of the partners Marriott and Digicel have made this possible through a $45 million USD investment that has birthed the 175-room ray of hope that is the Marriott Port-au-Prince.

What makes the hotel so full of potential to Haiti's tourism is obvious, it is beautiful, named and has a lot of press buzz, but what makes it full of economic potential for the country is the innovative business model set to fuel the daily needs of the hotel while heaping benefits on other businesses in the country. Various articles necessary for the day-to-day functionality of the hotel that can be sourced from local producers will be bought from these suppliers, ramping up the earnings of these business, small, medium, and large alike.

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Tourism in Haiti should get a significant boost in positive press on the heels of the country's newly launched ad campaign targeted towards the United States. The mission has been in progress for years now, by the Ministry of Tourism, to get more international people interested in the country as a first-class spot to vacation, being rich in the same beauty as their other, more popular neighbors in the Caribbean, and armed with a wealth of history, culture, art and new top-rated hotels.

The plan includes the operation of a cable channel to run all day long that will highlight the merits of the country and the possibilities for a vacation there. The entire ad campaign, as announced by the Tourism Minister, Stephanie Balmir Villedrouin, will be specifically aimed at travelers out of the tri-state region of New York, which includes diaspora members as well as other, unassociated, would-be-tourists. The ads will run on networks such as Food Network, CNN, The History Channel, Discovery Channel, AMC, A&E and News 12. The dedicated station, "Haiti: Experience It!", will be on Cablevision channel 650. There is even a tie-in to the website of News 12. Viewers of channel Haiti: Experience It! will have an interactive experience in which they can pick videos highlighting different aspects of Haitian travel to watch.

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The statistics are that 80% of Haitians living in rural areas survive by farming for their food. The country has the lowest employment rate in the region with only 60% working within the formal sector. With Haiti's shift towards tourism for its main industry, hopes are high for those living in the capital and the more popular tourist cities in the north. But what about those in the southern parts of Haiti?

Those areas, with little by way of attraction for tourists seeking the beauty of the country, have been granted a possible foothold in Haiti's bright tourism future. It comes in the form of a grant of $36 million from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), to be used to nurture the tourist potential of sites along the southern coastline that are rich in natural resources, culture and history, but poor in aesthetic beauty, and proper industry facilities. Today, 90% of the historic attractions don't have the necessary facilities to make them useable. The towns aren't home to many, if any, beautiful hotels, the beaches are polluted and eroded, and even though some host international festivals, the infrastructure to receive tourists just isn't present.

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Once, a journey to the north side of Haiti for a tourist would constitute a flight from their country, be it the U.S., South America, or somewhere in the other hemisphere, which would land in Port-au-Prince (not nearly the north), and then a subsequent flight or a bus-ride from there to your final destination. This was not only more expensive, but also more taxing on one's vacation time and energy. As of October 2, 2014, however, those traveling on American Airlines will be among the first who will zip directly into the country's second-largest city, Cap-Haitien, by way of the new portfolio of flights landing at the newly-renovated Hugo Chavez International Airport.

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After fifty years of waiting for the eventuality of an internationally-known commercial jet service to offer routes in Haiti outside of the obvious airport in the capital city of Port-au-Prince, American Airlines opened up its service roster to include the revitalized Cap-Haitien. A city fast opening itself up as a viable tourist destination, Cap-Haitien offers up big-city appeal, being the second largest in the country, as well as old-world charm and incomparable history.

Thursday, October 2, 2014, a Boeing 757 aircraft landed, carrying the Republic's President, Michel Martelly, who flew to Miami the night before to board the historic flight 1462 back. The crew of the aircraft was greeted upon arrival with a grand ceremony attended also by the country's Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe, Tourism Minister Stephanie Balmir Villedrouin, Venezuelan Ambassador to Haiti Pedro Antonio Canino González, Secretary of State for Public Works Philippe Cineas, and Minister of Public Works Jacques Rousseau.

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