海角大神

A new study highlights the uncertainty surrounding Haiti鈥檚 decision to prioritize tourism as a part of its development agenda.

The in Brazil, says that more visitors come to Haiti 鈥渢o see family and friends,鈥� or volunteer in aid or development projects than for the sort of recreation that draws tourists to upscale Caribbean beach resorts. The study notes that the Haitian government may need to rethink its current hard-sell of聽Haiti as a leisure destination.

鈥淭he government hopes that an influx of foreign currency can help lift the country out of aid-dependency. Yet the prospects for tourism are still highly uncertain,鈥� the study says.

More than 70 percent of Haitians live on less than $2 a day. Since聽the 2010 earthquake, it鈥檚 more common to see missionaries and aid workers here than beach-bound vacationers.

Haiti鈥檚 tourism minister Stephanie Villedrouin disagrees with the idea that travel that focuses on volunteering for a charitable cause is more suitable for Haiti than a recreation-focused tourism industry. Though the study doesn鈥檛 say the two approaches are mutually exclusive, it does emphasize that instead of focusing on high end hotels and resorts, Haiti should keep its attention on serving the majority working- and middle-class visitors that travel there each year.

Two tourism training institutes opened recently with support from the Haitian government, which is also developing聽an eco-friendly resort on an island, 脦le 谩 Vache.

Tourism "will create jobs, directly and indirectly," says Ms. Villedrouin. "Though it will take time," tourism has the potential to change Haiti's prospects.

Jean Lionel Pressoir, who runs Tour Haiti says the country cannot compete with other Caribbean destinations on the bland 3-S (sun, sea, and sand) quotient. However, it can hold its own as an alternative tourism destination because of its unique history and culture.

Jacqualine Labrom runs the tourism company Voyages Lumi猫re and was not interviewed for the Igarap茅 Institute study, which cites interviews with 2,231 tourists and 390 tourism professionals. Ms. Labrom says via email that her tour company has been around for 15 years, and is 鈥渓ooking after聽鈥榬eal鈥� tourists, who are coming in purely to see the country and get to know Haiti.鈥�

Labrom says tourists are drawn to Haiti鈥檚 鈥渨onderful beaches and beautiful mountains as well as the most magnificent fort, which is the only fort in the whole of the Caribbean not built by Europeans, but by ex-slaves.鈥� She says her tourists 鈥渁bsolutely love Haiti and have gone back home, either to Europe, or the US, to Japan, or to Australia saying that they were going to encourage all their friends to come.鈥�

But Haiti鈥檚 more recent聽history of political violence and frequent natural disasters decisively ended its 1970s and 1980s image as the celebrated destination where Bill and Hillary Clinton honeymooned. In 2012, just 950,000 visitors entered Haiti on tourist visas, compared to 4.6 million in the neighboring Dominican Republic.

The study highlights the potential that exists for the tourism industry in Haiti 鈥� but says it will take time. Crime is a big concern for many visitors, however, the study notes that petty theft of items of low monetary value was far more common than kidnappings, and that tourists interviewed for the study cited having a changed perception of crime from when they arrived to when they left. Furthermore, infrastructure projects are starting to move forward, and some foreign investors have invested in hotel and resort options across Haiti.

The study concludes that instead of focusing on high-end hotels and resorts, Haiti should keep its attention on serving the working- and middle-class visitors that make up the majority of visitors that travel there each year. 鈥淓fforts to improve the tourism infrastructure in Haiti should be mindful of the fact that few tourists come to Haiti solely for recreational or leisure purposes - even if wealthy tourists are desirable market segment from a foreign exchange perspective,鈥� the study says.

Editor鈥檚 Note: This story has been modified to include more context for or from the study. A previous version misstated which institute published the report.