22 million tourists visit the Caribbean, 300,000 in Haiti…

As part of the tour of the Head of State on the theme of tourism, the President Martelly met this week in Petion-Ville, the operators of six hotels of the Côte des Arcadins which propose 452 rooms on 15 kilometers of beach.

The infrastructure of the Côte des Arcadins welcome each week, about a thousand people, or 30% of the available hotel capacity. On the 22 million tourists who visit each year the Caribbean, only 300.000 come in Haiti deplored Samy Zuraik of Kaliko Beach.

“We must take initiatives vis-à-vis the friends of Haiti by inviting them to such meetings. It is necessary to ask them if it is true that the country remains on the red list, despite the efforts being made​​” has declared the President Martelly.

Speaking at the meeting, Beatrice Nadal Mevs, of Club Indigo, explained that there are many advantages on the Côte des Arcadins but also heavy disadvantages, citing a bill of 175,000 dollars monthly (for 6 hotels) alone for the production of electricty, also highlighting: the poor state of road infrastructure, the exorbitant costs of customs procedures, sanitation problems of the coast. She stressed the importance of making pleasant and quick the access of tourists to the Côte des Arcadins, instead, of the obstacle course that the tourists should do now…

The operators of the Coast have brought to the attention of the Head of State, 10 priorities, including: the rehabilitation of reception facilities and access to the airport, the rehabilitation of the national roads and #9 and #1, the security of access roads, the protection of marine biodiversity, the implementation of the development plan of tourism in the Côte des Arcadins and tax incentives and of facilitation at the level administrative and customs…

Martelly President promised to be alongside the tourism sector, seeing in this sector, a market that can absorb a large part of agricultural production [currently 6 hotels purchased annually for USD$300,000 of agricultural products on the local market].

The President Martelly asked to the investors not to be limited to a single zone recalling that “no sector can emerge alone from the abyss. If we must do something for the Côte des Arcadins, this work must go beyond the Côte.”