Tourism in Jacmel, the President shows a little «impatience»…

During a visit to Jacmel in the framework of his tour to promote the tourism in Haiti, the President Martelly, during a roundtable under the theme “The development of Jacmel and the surrounding area as a tourist destination” expressed the will of the Haitian Government to support the development efforts and expressed some impatience about the progress of the project of the Société Immobilière d’Agriculture, de Commerce et de Tourisme (SIMACT). (1)

“…today as President of the Republic, I’m here to make of the tourism, a growth industry. It is true that we will speak specifically of Jacmel today, and I will tell you that our dear country has great potential […] The project SIMACT has lasted too long, because two or three years ago, the Mayor of Jacmel at this time, Edo Zenny had made visited the site and I thought that we had made more progress since, but unfortunately we have not advanced much. Perhaps that in the past, there was no support for the Haitian government … Today, I do not bring you all the solutions to your problems, besides, I think you have identified yourself the problems and also the solutions, so I want to tell you that my team “tourism” and me, will accompany you and I will be there with this team, to unblock everything that will need to be unlocked and use all my power to frame you, protect your investment, bring you what you have not yet and do together with you, some studies of potential partnership, as we talked this morning for the project SIMACT. It is important to support this sector…”

Max Chauvet President of the Tourism Association of Haiti in a radio intervention wished to emphasize that Haiti was a country virgin in terms of tourism “We have a huge deficit of hotel rooms [… ] Often we can not find a hotel room because we have in Haiti since the earthquake “a humanitarian tourism” [which occupies the hotels]. But when we compare our 1.500 to 2.000 rooms available now in Haiti to the 65.000 rooms of the Dominican Republic, the 50.000 rooms of Cuba or to the 30.000 rooms in Jamaica you see that the opportunities are immense…”

The Head of State will complete his tour tomorrow in the South Region (Les Cayes, Camp Perrin, Port-Salut) where he will meet at 9:00 am the local operators to present the short-term vision “of the development of the southern region as a tourist destination” [Les Cayes /Camp Perrin /Port Salut /Ile la Vache] to 11:00am the Presiddent Martelly will proceed to the inauguration of the tourist centre “HOT SPOT” to Port Salut with : Sport – Bar – Game room for kids – Disco outdoor – Restaurant etc…

(1) – Learn more about the SIMACT and its projects :
Founded in 1996 by a group of Haitian professionals, the Société Immobilière d’Agriculture, de Commerce et de Tourisme (SIMACT) is a New York-based company. This group of Haitian professionals, initially focusing upon real estate development opportunities. In June 2010 Dr. Lesly Kernisant, doctor of Haitian origin who chairs the SIMACT, a group of 51 shareholders of New York, presented an ambitious real estate project “I was able to convince my colleagues, we will withdraw our money of Wall Street and invest it in Haiti”, declared Dr. Kernisant. Already owns of the Lamandou Cap, the most luxurious beachfront hotel in Jacmel, the group SIMACT plans to build a new residential and hotel complex on a plot of waterfront of 24 acres outside Jacmel at a cost of $25 million. Named Belle Rive, the complex will include a luxury hotel [“Ascend Collection”] 120 rooms and 94 condominiums, a private marina, a health spa and a cinema [estimated cost of USD$50 million] The SIMACT plans to launch at the end of the year the construction of the hotel “Ascend Collection”. This hotel will be the second of its kind in the Caribbean after the “Le Consulat Hotel” in San Juan (Puerto Rico) opened in late 2008.