Travel and Tourism

There has been an explosion at Montana Hotel in Port-au-Prince. The report indicated that the explosion caused at least four injuries. According to Radio Caraibes, the incident did not cause any lost of life.

The explosion at Hotel Montana took place Monday, May 20 while an outside company was in the process of supplying propane gas to the Hotel. Montana Hotel is located in Port-au-Prince, Route de Bourdon, Pétion-Ville.

Petion-Ville in Picture

Cause of the incident was attributed to a leak in the gas line during delivery

Hotel Montana was built in 1946 and was a popular four star tourist resort. During the 2010 earthquake, the main building of the hotel collapsed and an estimated 200 guests were reported missing the day after the collapse. Some of the victims included: Serge Marcil, former Canadian MP, Sam Dixon, head of the United Methodist Committee on Relief, Clinton Rabb, head of the United Methodist office of mission volunteers and Tran Trieu Quan, president of the International Taekwon-Do Federation.

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There has been some rumors and also confusion with this information just to say the least. Haiti Press Network had reported that the Haitian Prime Minister, Laurent Lamorthe announced during a visit in the United States that Haiti International Toussaint L'ouverture would be renamed. According to the online News media, the International Airport in Port-au-Prince is to be named after the Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez for his contribution to several infrastructure projects in Haiti. Haiti Press Network stated that the information was announced by the Creole service of Voice of America (VOA) in Washington, D.C.

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Pierre-Marie Boisson, on April 16th, 2013, happily announced the merger of Hotel Villa Creole and Hotel El Rancho. Together, these two hotels have a real estate property of 5 acres of land. Boisson mentioned that in Petion-Ville's living memory, this merger represents the largest transaction in real estate. Boisson is the financial adviser of Sogebank. Sogebank in turn is the adviser of real estate and financial company, FIS.

With this merger of El Rancho and Villa Creole, the shareholders of Villa Creole become El Rancho's shareholders. Of the total of 140 shareholders, the majority of the shares are held by Reginald Boulos followed by descendants of Sogebank, Silvera and bank employees. The renovation work for El Rancho is projected for completion by 2013 end of summer. El Rancho will have 13 apartments and 73 rooms and will have 86 housing units. Villa Creole will add another 40 rooms to this and will also go through some renovation work because of the damages caused by earthquake of 2013. During the Phase 2 of development, El Rancho will have another 50 rooms.

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Carabimmo SA, based in Haiti and Aimbridge Hospitality, based in Dallas have opened a hotel called Best Western Premier Petion-Ville in Haiti. This $15 million worth of hotel has been built in association with Best Western International and it located in Petion-Ville's upmarket suburb. The hotel opened on 28th March, 2013 and is referred to as 'the first full-service corporate U.S. brand hotel in Haiti'. The 7-storey luxury hotel features 3 imperial and executive suits and 106 guest rooms. The Best Western is loaded with amenities like flat screen TVs of 42" each, Wi-Fi, gym and spa with full-service, meeting space of 2000 sq. ft. capable of accommodating up to 160 guests and concierge service.

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The elections were fraudulent! Tens of thousands of demonstrating René Préval supporters took to the streets, or rather, took the streets with this cry after the results of the February 7, 2006 first-round of elections called for a run-off. What had started as a slightly run-of-the-mill election demonstration, complete with burning barricades and the thick, black smoke they create, took a much more direct approach to being heard by the people who count, as the crowd stormed the Petion-Ville gem, Hotel Montana, where the press headquarters of the electoral council was located.

Already deeply stung by the ousting of President Aristide, the demonstrators mobilized after the CEP released figures that made a run-off necessary, though the early count had shown Rene Préval with a lead clearly over the needed 50%. Claims of vote-rigging, incomplete or inaccurate voter lists, sudden relocations of polling stations, discarding of uncounted ballots and direct accusations against the CEP President of tampering abounded. Further fueling the ire of the protestors, communities traditionally for Préval saw an average 3-4 hours of delays in opening; a striking contrast to the noticeably smoother running of stations in areas supporting Préval's contenders. In those areas there were significantly fewer complaints, leading to the assumption that the difficulties experienced by Préval's demographic were artificially and intentionally created. Announcements of sudden changes were made at the last minute and were sometimes contrary to the actual situations met with by voters.

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Since Haiti's 2010 earthquake, the government has targeted agriculture, export, and tourism as solutions to put Haiti back on its feet. Minister of Tourism Stephanie Villedrouin has been proactive in attracting foreign investment to grow Haiti tourism. But the problem is international tourism, which has not contributed much to local governments' economies. Foreign countries, who invest in new resorts and hotels, earn the lion's share of profits. Local governments receive very little, and the outlays for supporting infrastructure cost them more than they can afford. They need the International Money Fund to help carry the burden of financing international airports, road projects, sanitation systems, power grids, and telecommunication systems where hotels and resorts are being erected. International tourism in Haiti drains local economies more than it adds to them.

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Tourism in the Caribbean has been happening since before Haiti became a republic in 1804. In the beginning, the very rich traveled to the Caribbean to experience the benefits of its health resorts, some of which offered hot springs. Tourists chose which of the islands they favored according to the official language spoken: The English preferred Jamaica; the French, French Martinque; and the Dutch, Curaçao.

As the Caribbean grew to be a tourist destination in the 60s, international airlines began offering non-stop flights. This changed the character of the tourist profile, which had been only the wealthy, but now became middle-class as well. Once the hospitality and tourism industries saw the potential for big profits in the Caribbean, they began investing in the region.

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Tourism is one of the leading industries in many countries - in fact, all countries. However, some countries actually manage to capitalize on the natural, cultural and historical diversities they have while others fail dramatically. The classic example is Switzerland which topped the list of 'most favorite tourist destination in the world' for 5 consecutive years. According to the recent reports, the top five spots are all taken by European countries in Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index. Canada managed to jump up by one spot and took the eighth place. The country draws international tourists because of its cultural diversity and historical heritage and also because of its natural resources. However, the country did lose some grounds on policies for environmental protection and competitive pricing.

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At a project-development meeting held by the Haiti Ministry of Tourism (MOT) in February 2013, a PowerPoint presentation was made by a real-estate development company for a new hotel in Les Cayes.

Spanning several hectares of acreage, The Blu Shangri La Hotel Resort promises to be one of the largest hotel accommodations on the island. It will contain 105 rooms and suites, a convention complex, theater space, and casinos. The site, Gelée, is a short stroll from the renovated Antoine Simon International Airport. The construction project, slated to break ground in late spring 2013, has yet to undergo environmental reviews, which must happen before the project can be considered shovel-ready.

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The Haitian Government has unveiled its plan for the development of the beautiful island of Ile a Vache. As part of the overall development of tourism in Haiti, the Ministry of Tourism has proposed to transform this island located just south of the city of Les Cayes into a destination for adventure, romance and wellness.

A presentation of Ile a Vache by La Bonne Nouvelle:

Main focus of the plan will be to develop eco-tourism-style development, highlighting areas like cultural heritage, agro-tourism and history. The project is divided in many phases with the first phase to develop bungalows and villas in the region of Anse Dufour located near the village of Madame Bernard.

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