[Fwd: Haiti tries to revive tourism]

Tttnhm@aol.com wrote:
>
> Haiti tries to revive tourism
> May 14, 2001
>
> JACMEL, Haiti (AP) -- Fifty years ago, movie stars such as Errol Flynn and
> Ava Gardner flocked to Haiti, seduced by the Caribbean country's wild
> scenery, glitzy hotels and exotic culture.
>
> It was Haiti's heyday, a time when the country was ranked the Caribbean's top
> tourist destination and called the Pearl of the Antilles. "Our country used
> to attract tourists from all over the world," says Jean Elie Mainville,
> marketing director for the Haitian Association for Development and Tourism, a
> branch of the tourism ministry.
>
> "We believe that can happen again with the right planning and enough money."
>
> Despite the country's mounting problems of poverty, environmental
> devastation, political instability and crime, the government is pouring money
> into tourism development, an industry it hopes will reverse the country's
> dire economic straits and revive interest.
>
> One of its first projects has been in Jacmel.
>
> "We spent a week in the Dominican Republic and will finish up our vacation
> here because it is so beautiful, says Luc Danielle Visonneau, 46, of Nantes,
> France, walking on the beach in Jacmel.
>
> Unlike the crater-pocked highways that haphazardly blanket much of Haiti, the
> road to this palm-fringed beach town is as good as it gets -- smooth asphalt,
> little traffic and leading to a place 2 1/2 hours away from the political
> clamor of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
>
> Jacmel, with its faded French gingerbread houses with vast vine-covered
> balconies, is a relative paradise with its 24-hour electricity, clean air and
> a newly-built wharf area the government hopes will someday be filled with
> cruise ships and tourists.
>
> Visitors can dine on $8 lobster dinners at local restaurants, dance to live
> music at seaside thatched-roofed discos, lounge on pristine beaches, parade
> through the narrow streets during February's Carnival or visit the many
> artists who live in Jacmel.
>
> One of Haiti's most famous painters, Prefet Duffaut, used Jacmel as a model
> city in his magical paintings.
>
> "Jacmel is one of our gems," Mainville says. The government has shelled out
> hundreds of thousands of dollars to make sure the road stays nice, the
> electricity stays on and tourism gets underway, but some say the government
> is getting ahead of itself.
>
> "If you really wanted to attract tourists or investors the first thing that
> you would do would be to fix the road to the airport," says Richard Morse,
> operator of the Oloffson Hotel, made famous by Graham Greene's The Comedians,
> a novel about Haiti under Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier.
>
> Morse, who is Haitian-American, took over the hotel in the late-80s when Baby
> Doc, or Jean-Claude Duvalier was still in power. Today only three to six
> tourists come to stay each month, Morse says.
>
> "In all of my time here, I haven't met one government tourism official,"
> Morse says. "You'd think that if they were really serious about tourism they
> would come to the country's highest profile hotel."
>
> In his inauguration speech on Feb. 7, President Jean-Bertrand Aristide said
> that by 2004 there would be 7,000 hotel rooms in Haiti compared to the
> current 800, many of which are in establishments plagued by the capital's
> inadequate electricity and feeble phone lines.
>
> The Dominican Republic, which shares the same island of Hispaniola, has
> 20,000 international-quality rooms and an economy that has been visibly
> bolstered by tourism.
>
> "We're just waiting for partners," Aristide said at his inauguration.
>
> Haiti, with its faded architecture, pristine beaches and rich mix of African
> and French culture, still has many of attributes that drew such Hollywood
> stars as Flynn and Gardner.
>
> But time is running out for Aristide to convince both investors -- and
> tourists -- that his country is worth a second chance.
>
> In May, Aristide's Lavalas Party won a clear majority in local and
> legislative races but the Organization of American States said the 10
> contested Senate seats should have gone to a runoff.
>
> Aristide's government refused, casting doubt on his credibility and prompting
> the international community to block aid.
>
> Some $76 million of United States aid to Haiti will be channeled exclusively
> through non-governmental agencies this year, while the European Union has
> blocked nearly $70 million in assistance.
>
> Political instability has increased since, with the opposition refusing to
> recognize Aristide's government and naming an alternative president.
> Aristide's government has threatened to arrest Gerard Gourgue, a move the
> United States has said it would be against.
>
> And then there's crime.
>
> Since March, two U.S. citizens have been killed and another was kidnapped and
> later released.
>
> "A lot of our friends told us to be careful but the people here have been
> very open and friendly," said Visonneau, the French tourist who visited
> Jacmel, where in January thieves killed two French tourists and their Haitian
> driver. "We love it so far."
>
> Kristina Rundquist, spokeswoman for the American Society of Travel Agents in
> Washington, D.C., says few American tourists ever consider vacationing in
> Haiti because of the instability.
>
> "A large part of why Americans aren't going to Haiti is because of the State
> Department warnings," Rundquist says. "The other reason is that other parts
> of the world like Vietnam and Eastern Europe are opening up and getting
> positive publicity."
>
> Most guidebooks don't even acknowledge that Haiti shares the same island as
> the Dominican Republic. The National Geographic Traveler's guidebook, for
> example, devotes more than 300 pages to the Caribbean, including more than 28
> to the Dominican Republic. Haiti is not covered.
>
> Still, people in Jacmel are waiting for Haiti's second coming.
>
> "People come here to get a break from Port-au-Prince," says Jean-Ruid
> Senatus, co-owner of the Hotel Florita, a small guest house in Jacmel.
> "Aristide has promised that things will get better and that's what we're
> hoping for, but it's a little bit scary."
>
> The faded white hotel, adorned by flowering vines, Vodou artwork and antique
> four-poster beds, lacks tourists most of the time.
>
> But that adds to the town's charm, according to Aurelius la Rochelle and his
> wife from Grand Bay, Quebec. The couple started visiting Haiti in the early
> 1970s when Papa Doc was still in power.
>
> "Back then there was more order but there was also more fear and violence,"
> said la Rochelle, 66. "Now there is hope and in the long term I think
> tourists will come to Haiti because here you feel at home."
Received on Tue May 15 16:46:39 2001