PORT-AU-PRINCE -- It was supposed to be an oasis in an investment-hungry nation riding a wave of improved security and optimism: a 60-room South Beach-inspired hotel offering upscale shops, a 300-car garage and a helipad.
Then the catastrophic Jan. 12 earthquake hit, wiping out $6.4 million in investments as investors lay dead, and others stood in financial ruin. Almost six months after the disaster, the Oasis hotel project is on its way back with more than double the rooms.
Read More:
1 comments:
As we look around for new possibilities, Haiti is a huge question mark. My own perception is that the earthquake is a once in a millennium opportunity to address one of the biggest silent threats in the Western Hemisphere. Continued long term instability, both in political and economic terms, for over 8 million people in the middle of the Caribbean, creates an environment that is ripe for social explosion. This is a threat to not only Haiti’s Caribbean neighbors, but also to the United States. Everyone involved wants to do this correctly. Now Haiti has the world’s attention, for a brief moment in time.
If properly planned and executed, mega -tourism projects could succeed. There is the willingness, the need and the availability of funds now in the wake of the human disaster.
What is critical, for the long term good of the hemisphere, is the creation of projects that are of high quality and sustainable. A properly planned and executed mega tourism project could address issues of education, local employment, infrastructure creation and the ecology. Projects that are wholly contained and supported by their own infrastructure can add to the country’s development. Education will be crucial to ensure the local work force can provide the quality of services to support 4 and 5 star tourism and hospitality. Rebuilding of Haiti’s natural habitat will stem the tide of erosion and destruction, and can explore the growing wave of green tourism. Visitors could be given the opportunity to actively participate in rebuilding the ecology.
There are examples nearby to draw on, such as Cancun and Punta Cana. What must be done is to learn from these preceding projects, embrace what worked and reinvent solutions for what did not.
It is also critical for the hospitality sector to drive home the message that searching quickly for low quality, low cost, high volume projects will not create a sustainable model, from any standpoint: economic, employment or ecological. Recent studies published by HVS regarding Caribbean hotel performance have demonstrated how the economic paths of 2 and 3 star hotels have diverged widely from those of 4 and 5 star hotels. The ongoing divergence of RevPAR between these groups is long term, continual and relentless. And the gap continued to widen throughout the recent economic crisis.
Having personally lived through the collapse of the hotel market in Puerto Plata, I have seen the failure of low cost, low budget tourism first hand. If Haiti is ready to embrace the expansion of tourism and hospitality as an integral part of their needed rebuild efforts, we owe it to her to deliver the truth. Embrace quality and you will have an efficient and sustainable model that works for all participants.
Post a Comment