Haiti’s newly appointed tourism minister, Marie-Christine Stephenson, is planning on increasing the tourism rate in her country one major step at a time. At the beginning of the decade, the Caribbean nation experienced a growth of visiting tourists who couldn’t get enough of experiencing the country.
Travel Pulse reports that 420,000 people visited in 2013 and in 2015, that number jumped to 516,000. However, over the past few years, tourism rates have dropped dramatically. In 2016, only 476,000 tourists visited the country. That number worsened the following year, in which 421,000 tourists visited Haiti.
That’s where Minister Stephenson comes in. Since being appointed to her position on Sept. 18, she’s shown that she’s ready to act swiftly to attract people from all around the world to her country. “We will multiply partnerships between domestic and foreign players,” she said in a statement. “With their help, major tourist projects will be revived.”
Not only does Minister Stephenson plan on strengthening the tourism sector, but she wants to improve Haiti’s hotel industry “training infrastructures,” too. Travel Pulse adds that this action will help at “‘creating an institute of tourism and hospitality, facilitating tourism sector investment through ‘standardization of procedures and cohesion of public institutions,’ and the creation of a tourist credit program.”
Though tourism has decreased in Haiti, many are still attracted to the country as a cruise stop. In 2015, 644,000 visitors stopped by on cruise ships. That number jumped in 2017 to 737,000. Haiti, though many parts are impoverished, is still a beautiful country with a rich history and culture. Now that Minister Stephenson is in charge of improving tourism, many more people — who will hopefully come from all across the world — will be able to see that.
