Haiti Earthquake

For a country so close to one of our favourite Caribbean holiday destinations, Haiti has remained surprisingly untouched by tourism.  Despite sharing the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic, a destination visited over the last ten years by millions of British holidaymakers, for the majority of us in the UK travel industry Haiti is seldom mentioned and almost never visited.

Haiti receives fewer than a million visitors each year and of these about 600,000 come by cruise ship and don’t stop over, and an estimated 350,000 are Haitian expats returning to visit family. 

Last week’s devastating earthquake has left the country shattered, with Haiti’s Prime Minister warning that the eventual death toll could be more than 100,000.  In the immediate aftermath of most natural disasters, the travel industry is generally focused on the safety and well-being of customers, and in the longer term, working with local partners to help rebuild the infrastructure, but Haiti is a Caribbean country with no tourist infrastructure to speak of.

Despite having no vested interest in Haiti, airlines, tour operators, cruise lines and travel agents have been quick to respond with offers of assistance.  Thomson and First Choice have already raised more than $10,000 through holidaymakers in the Dominican Republic supporting local initiatives to move essential supplies over to people in Haiti.  Thomson Airways and Virgin Atlantic are flying aid workers and rescue teams to the region, with Virgin already committed to flying in a minimum of 55 tonnes of cargo.

British Airways, as well as providing a Boeing 747 to fly out personnel and cargo, has pledged £300,000 from its UNICEF Change for Good passenger donation scheme.  Royal Caribbean will provide at least $1 million in humanitarian relief and is delivering supplies through its resort of Labadee where ships call regularly on Caribbean itineraries. All of the company’s net revenue from the destination will also be contributed to the relief effort.

At Kuoni, we have pledged £25,000 towards the aid effort and we are involved with wider industry initiatives to support the ongoing humanitarian relief effort.

For all of us working in the travel industry, the world really is a smaller place.  For us, Haiti is not an unknown country four and half thousand miles away; it’s a country on the doorstep of many places we know well.  The people of Haiti are not strangers in a foreign land, they are the parents of our hotel staff in the Dom Rep, and the children of our crew on the cruise ships.

In the long term hopefully there will be the opportunity for travel and tourism to help to bring recovery and stability to a country with more than its fair share of chaos, but for now it’s just about humanity and providing help to those who need it most.