Opening of upscale hotels marks turning point in Haiti's reconstruction
| Port-Au-Prince, Haiti
The opening of the upscale聽听颈苍听聽on Wednesday ushered in a new phase in the country's post-earthquake reconstruction, while providing a sharp contrast to the plight of hundreds of thousands still homeless almost three years after the disaster.
The elite聽听颈苍听, a business and social hub in the hills south of聽, is part of the Occidental hotel chain and is the first in a string of international brand-name hotels opening in the coming months.
A Best Western Premier is scheduled to open its doors in January, and the newly reincarnated El Rancho is set to follow in February under the management of the Spanish group NH Hoteles.
A Marriott hotel, opening in partnership with telecom service provider Digicel, will have its official groundbreaking next week in downtown聽, and聽聽is already in the process of taking over management of an existing hotel in the southern tourist city of聽.
The Oasis boasts 128 rooms and suites, restaurants, retail shops and a conference center. An evening in the Royal Club Presidential Suite will set you back well over $1,000, with butler service included.
聽is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, still struggling to recover from a devastating earthquake in January 2010 that killed an estimated 250,000 people and left more than 1 million homeless.
Some 358,000 earthquake victims were still living in camps and makeshift settlements as of October 2012, according to the most recent survey by the International Organization for Migration.
The Oasis by Occidental is the first international hospitality brand to operate in the troubled country in years, a faint echo of聽's heyday in the 1950s and 1960s when the聽聽island was a hip destination for international celebrities.
聽was previously home to a Club Med, a French resort chain that operated on a palm-lined strip of beach north of聽, and a Holiday Inn in the capital's teeming downtown.聽
STRONG MESSAGE
The return of major hospitality brands sends a strong message, says聽, director of investment for the聽.
"It shows that we're open to international partnerships ... (and) that we're preparing to be a serious international destination," Noel said. "Private investors are starting to trust the Haitian state."
According to the聽, about half of the capital's roughly 1,600 hotel rooms were lost in the January 2010 earthquake. By mid-2013, metropolitan聽聽will have some 3,500 hotel rooms.
While the聽聽project was six years in the making, it benefited directly from post-earthquake reconstruction funds. Investors group聽聽was awarded $7.5 million in financing by the聽's International Finance Corporation and more than $2 million by the聽, headed by former U.S. presidents听补苍诲听. The Clinton Bush聽聽Fund recently announced that it would cease operations at the end of 2012.
The hotel opening comes at a time when the聽聽country is struggling to recover from a difficult year that saw its fragile agricultural sector badly battered by more natural disasters, including Hurricane Sandy, which destroyed crops and sparked protests over the cost of living.
Following a recent visit, the聽聽released a statement on Monday warning that "heightened domestic political and social tensions - fueled by pervasive poverty and lack of progress in improving living standards - and natural disasters could impede the fragile recovery and constrain聽's growth prospects."
