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Creole culture, palm-fringed beaches and fun activities are all part of G Adventures’ Haiti tour. Claire Dodd discovers how tourism is helping after 2016’s hurricane.
I’m gripping the rope, trying not to look down. Water rushes down a narrow rapid beneath me, and a very patient guide – one of several from the local village – is guiding my feet down the rock face as I giggle hysterically. “This is real Indiana Jones stuff,” says our G Adventures chief experience officer (CEO), Romel.
If you want to bask in the perfect blue waters of one of Haiti’s most beautiful waterfalls and lagoons – Bassin-Bleu, located just outside Jacmel – you have to work for it.
I’m in Haiti, exploring the country with G Adventures. Though not exactly a tourism hotspot – yet – agents selling Royal Caribbean cruises will be aware of its beautiful beaches, particularly the line’s private resort, Labadee. But this little-explored Caribbean nation has so much more to offer, which this 10-day tour highlights.
If you know little else about Haiti, you’ll know it suffered a devastating earthquake in 2010. Now, just eight months after Hurricane Matthew hit the nation’s south peninsula, the message is not only that Haiti is very much open for business but that tourism is a key way to help it recover.
It’s an issue that’s vitally important to G Adventures. “When people flee and don’t think they can travel to a place, that hurts the country even more,” says Kelly Galaski, programme and operations manager for G Adventures’ non-profit organisation, the Planeterra Foundation.
Although Haiti had a profound tourism heyday in the 1950s and 1960s, years of political upheaval and natural disasters all but shut things down.
In 2013, Galaski was asked to assess Haiti’s tourism readiness, including infrastructure and attractions, both natural and historical.
“We were really impressed with everything from the service at the hotels and guest houses, to the sites. The culture here is so unique. We thought everything wrapped into one would be a really unique destination.”
Haiti’s appeal in that heyday was something close to Cuba’s now, with its mix of ornate gingerbread architecture, music and culture holding considerable appeal.
That’s all still there. And as the first and only nation in the world to be born of a slave revolt, its culture – from the Creole language to its music and the Vodou religion – is still a unique fusion of its African and European heritage.
It’s something the G Adventures’ tour – starting and ending in Port-au-Prince – actively looks to immerse travellers in.
So far, I’ve visited Unesco World Heritage site Citadelle, the largest fortress in the Americas, and Sans-Souci Palace high in the mountains outside the northern city of Cap-Haitien; explored one of the Caribbean’s largest cave systems at Grotte Marie Jeanne; and discovered capital Port-au-Prince’s vibrant arts scene, from the metalworking village of Noailles at Croix-des-Bouquets to the artist community of Atis Rezistans, where discarded objects from hub caps to TV sets are turned into sculptures.
The operator has also added Haiti to its new “once-in-a-lifetime experiences” tours, with a Haitian Carnival trip in Jacmel, scheduled for February 2018. Add to this its stunning natural scenery and Haiti is not short of attractions. Though it is short of tourists.
At many places, you’ll find yourself the only or part of just a handful of visitors. When that place is somewhere like the Citadelle – built shortly after independence, it’s the birthplace of Haiti – it does feel surreal. The tourism potential here is enormous.
G Adventures also specialises in socially responsible travel, so stop-offs to sip rum with locals, to make traditional kasav flatbread or paint papier-mache and dine with at-risk children cared for by Jacmel’s Art Creation Foundation for Children are included in the trip.
Guests also visit a Vodou priest and, of course, get to spend some time on the beach, including in the hurricane-hit south. “If we’re not there, those people won’t have jobs,” adds Galaski. “So we try and get back there as quickly as possible and help rebuild the economy.”
My visit in March was the first time the tour had returned to the area. In Port-Salut, roads may have been torn up and buildings severely damaged, but the hotels and restaurants that line the white sand beach are ready for the tourists to return. On the beach, I find myself surrounded by girls selling Haitian crafts. “That’s a good sign that people are coming back,” says Romel.
With little in the way of infrastructure and public transport, escorted tours with a local guide really are the only way to see the country. And it has to be said, this is one for the adventurous. However, the development of tourism – from luxury resorts to adventure travel – is viewed as a crucial way to help the nation develop.
So what does the future hold? There are currently no direct flights to Haiti from the UK, with Atlanta and Miami offering connections. However, twinning with Cuba is now doable and seen as an opportunity for growth.
Haitian airline Sunrise Airways launched a Port-au-Prince to Santiago de Cuba service in late 2014, and a new route to Camaguey last year.
Carnival Corp’s plans to develop a £55 million cruise port destination at Tortuga Island on the north shore, billed as the “largest cruise industry development ever” for Haiti were announced in 2014. However, a year of transitional government has slowed big projects down.
Another to stall is the development (one of the biggest projects in the Caribbean) of island Ile-a-Vache as a major resort hotspot. Haiti’s new government says this may restart soon.
But as far as hotel rooms go, things are moving. International brands including Best Western, Marriott and Royal Occidental Hotels & Resorts have opened properties in Port-au-Prince in recent years.
The former Club Med property in Indigo Beach on the Cote-des-Arcadins – closed in 1987 and briefly reopened in 1996-7 – reopened as the Royal Decameron around 18 months ago, bringing all-inclusive to Haiti with its 380 rooms, although it currently serves mostly French and Canadian operators.
Marriott is also preparing to open the Habitation Jouissant boutique hotel in the northern coastal city Cap-Haitien, Haiti’s second-largest city, later this year.
Things are changing. But for now, with destinations such as Cuba and some central American countries opening up for mass tourism, Haiti is emerging as a sustainable tourism choice for those who want to discover the “undiscovered”.
Book it: A 10-day Highlights of Haiti trip starts from £1,749pp with G Adventures, excluding flights. gadventures.co.uk
What does the future hold for tourism in Haiti?
Tourism had a boom here in the 1950s and 1960s. But I think the real boom for Haiti should be in the coming years. We have more than one million tourists per year, but we have to work on that. We lost a year as far as being on the market goes, but now we’re ready to pick up where we left off and really start going forward towards a better developed tourism offering.
What are the challenges in rebuilding tourism?
One of the main problems is the control of our trash on the streets. That is extremely important and something we must attack upfront. But I think that is the only problem we have – because Haiti is very rich in terms of culture and history. You can do so many things in Haiti and sometimes people don’t realise that.
What opportunities do you see?
We have two important neighbours: the Dominican Republic and Cuba. We’re looking at deals with them and how we can have multi-destination tourism.
Is Haiti safe for travellers?
Haiti is not one of the most dangerous countries in the Caribbean – far from it. But at the same time, we must prepare for the future and make security a priority. We have tourism police in place but we’re going to develop that more.
