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Holiday Island Smashed Into Two Halves
Tuesday, 30 Jan, 2010
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The Caribbean holiday island of Hispaniola is shared by two countries – Haiti and the Doninican Republic.
By now, we all know the story of Haiti’s devastation – www.ft.com/cms/s/0/18fdc73c-078f-11df-915f-00144feabdc0.html
- Up to 200,000 people are dead of which tens of thousands have already been buried and at least another 200,000 people in need of urgent assistance
- 3 million inhabitants are affected of which at least 300,000 have been made homeless, at least 40 tent cities have sprung up in Port au Prince, the capital.
- The country’s entire administration is in ruins, practically and metaphorically
- At least a million people desperately need shelter and non-food assistance.
- The World Food Program has launched an appeal for $279 million to feed two million people for the next six months. WFP Plans to provide one-week rations of ready-to-eat meals for two million people and The UN humanitarian department has appealed for $560 millions from the world community to assist Haiti quake victims.
- The port at Port-au-Prince is likely to be out of operation for 3 months, and the airport is damaged but functioning round-the-clock under US military control. The United Nations has recommended using the road from Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic as the main entry point for humanitarian aid.
- The World Food Program is setting up a shuttle service between Port-au-Prince and Santo Domingo with flights for shuttling passengers three times a day.
The Dominican Republic which shares the eastern third of the Island of Hispaniola with Haiti appears to be completely unaffected and is operating quite normally as a high end tourism destination – and is offering its ports, services and assistance to the massive relief effort.
The question for us all to answer in the travel and tourism business is “What can we do?”
First, we can donate to the emergency aid agencies that are meeting the immediate need www.redcross.org.uk/donatesection.asp. BUT IT’S NOT ENOUGH – Haiti will shortly be edged out of the news by Tony Blair or whatever else and the Haitians will starve and die unheard by the world’s headline writers when they are in desperate need of more help.
So, we can listen to Fiona Jeffery of the travel industry’s charity ‘Just a Drop’. “Just a Drop is trying to unite the industry and its support into a key area of tremendous need – the provision of ongoing and sustainable clean safe water and sanitation for the people of Haiti”
If we all act now we can ensure that, at least, we’ve done all we can to help avoid the disaster of thousands more dying of thirst, diahorroea and other water-borne diseases – IF WE ACT NOW – AND CARRY ON SUPPORTING THIS INITIATIVE! www.justadrop.org
Secondly, we can listen to Leilei LeLaulu, co-chairman of the Innovation for Sustainable Development Center. LeiLei told Vision yesterday that tourism was "uniquely positioned to play an enormously productive role in ensuring Haiti’s recovery is not only rapid but also sustainable” He added “Haiti has a golden opportunity to develop community-benefit tourism now that so many people had moved back to their rural homelands. No other industry can get up and running and providing livelihoods as quickly as tourism. While the larger hotels with more complex construction and financing needs are being built, Haiti could immediately start small with voluntourism. First with basic accomodation for use by relief workers, their friends and families, then move to bed and breakfasts, and small hotels.”
The Dominican Republic, sharing the other half of the island was set up as a tourism destination with massive World Bank funding. Maybe it’s time also to look at Haiti in a sustainable way?
What are we waiting for?
Log on NOW to www.justadrop.org
And voluntourism operators? Tell us what you’re doing and we’ll report it.
Valere Tjolle
Full Suite of 4 2010 Sustainable Tourism Reports will be available shortly For anyone interested in sustainable tourism these are must-have reports. They will: Inform your planning * Inform your investing * Inform your colleagues * Maximise your ROI * Help you create winning sustainable strategies
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