Haiti cruiseship passengers reach 600,000 in 2011

Haiti’s Tourism Minister, Stéphanie Balmir Villedrouin sees Haiti becoming the Caribbean’s next major tourist destination but the country would need to forge an alliance with its neighbor Dominican Republic to learn from its experience over the past 3 decades.

Mrs. Villedrouin said that President Michel Martelly’s Administration views tourism as a cornerstone of its development policy, due to job creation, and foreign currency coming into the country.

As per DR! – Felipe Aquino, the President of the Caribbean Tourism Bourse, indicated that Haiti receives 600,000 cruise ship passengers a year, twice the number visiting the Dominican Republic. The trade show was held over the weekend from June 30th to July 1st at the Dominican Fiesta Hotel and the event was dedicated to Haiti.

Aquino lobbied for improvements to the Dominican Republic’s port infrastructure and for regular dredging of the Santo Domingo port, a destination for cruise passengers visiting the Colonial City.

Aquino highlighted that the new facilities built by Royal Caribbean at Labadee in northern Haiti, a $50 million investment transformed the port into an attractive destination for cruise ship passengers. The port in Haiti is only 1 of 4 ports in the Caribbean where the largest cruise ships can dock.

In the Dominican Republic, Carnival Cruises intends to build a cruise ship port in Maimon, Puerto Plata.

Mrs. Villedrouin mentioned that the Haitian government plans to make several infrastructure investments to expand the airports in the North and South of Haiti, more specifically in Les Cayes, Cap Haitien and Jacmel in order to receive international flights.