Smart Move or Bad for Business: Haiti’s Tourism Industry by Annabella Jean-Laurent

For many, when they think of the tourism industry, thoughts of increased capital, business growth and new jobs come to mind. And as Haiti slowly recovers from the catastrophic effects of the 2010 earthquake, it seems a revival of its tourism industry makes sense.

For most of our Caribbean neighbors scattered across the Atlantic Ocean:  Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, Puerto Rico and Trinidad and Tobago, just to name a few, tourism is big business.

So when David Toussaint founded Haiti Tourism Inc., in 2011, he and his team aggressively marketed the island as a vacation hotspot for anyone searching for their next island getaway. The company’s Facebook and Twitter feeds regularly feature images of the country’s green pastures, crystal blue oceans and smiling locals. And its aggressive advertising campaigns seem to be working.

Last week, Carnival Corporation, the owner of Carnival Cruise Lines has signed an intent agreement with the Haitian government for a cruise port off the northern coast of Haiti, on Ile de la Tortue. Royal Caribbean already has acquisition of Labadee cruise port, also along on the northern coast. The new venture promises to create 900 job positions.

While its natural for many to be excited for Haiti’s plunge into the tourism industry, let’s look back a few decades when Haiti was a premier hotspot for vacationers. Bill and Hilary Clinton spent part of their honeymoon there in 1965. Writer Ernest Hemingway once visited. And in the 1954 issue of LOOK magazine, Haiti was part of its travel issue alongside the Florida Keys and San Francisco.

But the country was still in disarray. Soil erosion and deforestation were destroying the mainland. Unemployment was high and the minimum wage, which was just five gourdes, hardly sustained the working class.

Filmmaker Stephanie Black explores what some describe as “neo-colonialist tourism,” in her 2001 documentary Life and Debt. The film examines the economic and social issues affecting Jamaica despite its booming tourism industry. Small companies fail, unable to compete with cheap exports and outside corporations. Beaches become privatized, and homes acquisitioned as land are bought and sold to corporations interested in gated resorts and villas for the rich.

How much will Haitian locals benefit from tourism today? Our Caribbean neighbors remain vastly impoverished despite their decades in the business so it’s important to realize that Haiti may suffer the same fate. It is up to the people to ensure that their needs are met first, and not those on the outside.

Haiti has enough beauty, culture and richness to awe the world. But its people should be first in line to reap the benefits.

This tourism video, made in Kreyol, it sounds like a campaign to get the locals excited and ready for the country’s tourism venture:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Kf1Hj77Msg

Annabella Jean-Laurent is a Haitian-American writer who explores race, media and culture in society. Her current project surrounds an important but little known exhibit called the Negro Building at the 1895 Cotton States and International Exposition. Follow her @militantbarbie on Twitter and Facebook. 

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Nuance, Selebrasyon! and my Grandmother’s hands

(The following blog post was submitted by Kassandra Khalil, Program Director, Haiti Cultural Exchange:  http://haiticulturalx.org/)

 

My experience of Haitian culture begins with my grandmother’s hands. Soft like calf leather with strong, deep palm lines and a missing knuckle on her left hand – an accident from her days as a seamstress and a reminder of a hard life. I’ve watched those hands brush my sister’s hair and scrape the bottom of the rice pot with that same cast and pull motion. And there is a clear image in my mind of those hands gathering a long skirt with a quick grab and loud “Humph!” in distaste at my uncle’s off-color humor.

 

The motions of Ma Laborde’s hands, the stories they tell, and the food it taught me to cook amount to so much of what I consider my identity as a Haitian woman. My grandmother connects me to a country with a deep history of revolution, of art, and nature – all things that resonate with me regardless of my Haitian background. What inspired me to focus on Haitian culture was those passive moments – gestures and often minor acts that I found to be so distinctly Haitian and Caribbean.

 

For the past few years, I have been working as the Program Coordinator at Haiti Cultural Exchange, an organization that I feel represents that nuance. Together with Régine Roumain, our community of brilliant supporters, interns, committee members and talented artists, Haiti Cultural Exchange has been able to present programs on art and culture from Haitian and the Diaspora that incite discussion, build community, and acknowledge how wide and diverse Haitian culture really is. Laying into these ideas, HCX strives to give Haiti-identifying artists a space to express their link to their country while sharing their personal creativity and individuality as an artist.

 

As part of this mission, HCX is presenting a six-week festival called Selebrasyon! Placing artists and community in the forefront, Selebrasyon! aims to reinforce intersections inside the Haitian community and will express the multidimensional nature of Haitian Diaspora culture.

 

Taking place in venues all over the city, Selebrasyon! will highlight some of the best new talents and known names in Haitian culture today. These include our Haitian Flag Day Selebrasyon! on May 18th featuring the traditional “rèlkè” of Jocelyn Dorisme beside the neo-blues sounds of Nadïne LaFond as well as  LirikAyiti: Rasin/Chimen on June 8th featuring the hip-hop influenced rhymes of Lenelle Moïse  and the high rhythms of Patrick Sylvain’s  Kreyòl verse.

 

From May 18 to June 30, this city will come to life with over 20 Haitian cultural events that will unite the community and bring generations together to remember, learn, and connect around Haitian culture. This is YOUR festival, I hope to see you there.

 

Check out the official Selebrasyon! Calendar here and see how you can support our ongoing Indiegogo campaign. Special perks  include tickets to Monday Nightcap & Music with Melanie J-B Charles on April 21st , hand-painted tote bags, and original artwork.

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An Encounter With Hope

This post was written by Christelle Louis, a 9^th Grader in Haiti at Ecole Nouvelle Zoranje (ENZ); Essay shared with permission from MyHaitiTravels.com.  My Haiti Travels (MHT) is a New York-based boutique concierge firm that coordinates and produces high-quality travel experiences with a social impact for groups seeking to explore Haiti for leisure and business purposes.  My Haiti Travels (MHT) believes that one of the best ways to support Haiti is to visit, support local businesses and give back directly to the youth.  Learn more at http://www.impactweekhaiti.com.

“It is never too late to do the right thing”

I was sitting in my classroom, and the director entered, greeted us and said: “today there is a group of “diaspora” who are going to visit our class. They will be talking about their careers. So you must welcome them well and give them all the respect they deserve, and please ask questions that will be useful to you in the future”. And he added “this is why I chose your class, so make me proud”!

At 11 am the “diaspora’s” came into our classroom with the Principal. There was a woman from the group who identified herself as the leader of the group. She introduced herself as Dina a Haitian who left Haiti since the age of 9, she also talked about her career speaking in Kreyol and English. But as she was speaking I saw tears swelling in her eyes, when I glanced at the others, I realized that they too were crying. I was very puzzled, asking myself why they were all standing in front of us in tears. But Dina must have understood that we were all a bit confused about the tears because she explained that this was an emotional visit for all them, she said we reminded them of who they were prior to leaving for the US.

There was another one who was presenting, she could not even speak because she was crying so much, her name is Florence and she encouraged us to work hard in school, adding that this is what will secure for us a place in society. She told us to persevere and stressed again that she is who she is today because of education.  She said that she struggled and never got discouraged. But all of this was said extremely tearfully as she could not stop crying.

I would have personally liked to know why she was crying so much, unfortunately I am not a “heart reader”. But while I was thinking about this I too was crying…What shocked me also was that 2 of them stated that they left the country very young, they spent between 30-35 years out of the country and never came back, even after the earthquake. They said that when they came back they were shocked at the condition of the country.  Well I told myself that it’s a good thing they did not come right after the earthquake, they would have been more than shocked since the country was in such bad shape.

I did not despair too much when I realized that they all spoke Kreyol well and showed us that Haiti was still in their hearts since they spoke our language well and clearly gave it importance.

There was also an American among them who did not speak Kreyol, but they translated his comments. He also showed us that he loves Haiti and would like to help the Haitian people. They were all very proud, because they all felt that they were home, with family back in their country.

I became very frustrated when one of them identified as Haitian even though only her mom is Haitian. I was shocked because, there I am fantasizing about changing my nationality, while someone else who is not really Haitian, is proclaiming her Haitian heritage. I think that I should change my mind about this.  It is also that same person who is telling us to put our heads together, to work so that our country can move forward, so that others can stop projecting only negative images about us, stressing that our country is rich in resources which we must protect.

We were also told that we also needed to be proud of our history and what we did for Blacks who used to be discriminated against.  One of them said that when she left the country at the age of 15, she attended a school where the students were humiliating her because she was Haitian and because she could not speak English well.  But what really encouraged her was that she was one of the best math students in the classroom. But the memory of the humiliation she suffered as a Haitian still makes her cry and that really touched my heart and made me sad.

They all made presentations about their careers and professions. We asked a lot of questions and they responded with great enthusiasm.

Overall, I felt really proud! I was among family and they gave us excellent advice. I told myself that God has sent this group to meet us, because I have more hope and I will never be discouraged in my life even when I want to lose hope. And I will make all efforts to work even harder in school.

I went home that day with a lot of love in my heart!

https://www.tumblr.com/www-myhaititravels-com/77617335961/an-encounter-with-hope

 

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