Chapter 4: Tourism, Co-Location and Networking: A Haitian Contemporary Crisis and Future Prospects

The purpose of this chapter is an exploration of the potential benefits derived from a country destination being geographically co-located to tourist destinations that have experienced considerable tourism growth. Those high-performing tourism destinations are often in close proximity to main tourist-generating markets adjacent to the Caribbean region.

An exploratory descriptive research study that utilised secondary data sources to explore the potential benefits of Haiti being co-located in the Greater Caribbean Antilles and The Bahamas.

Given Haiti's present socio-economic and political crises, tourism growth challenges are evident. Nonetheless, based on Haiti's interactions with countries in the Greater Antilles, which obtained visitor arrivals of over one (1) million, including Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Puerto Rico, and The Bahamas that is further north of the zone, opportunities and constraints for Haiti's tourism growth are identified. Opportunities exist for human resource sharing, transport integration, cultural exchanges, education and knowledge exchanges, investment and diplomatic relations to support tourism development in Haiti.

Given consideration to approaches utilised to develop tourism in the Caribbean basin, the argument is that tourism development can occur by being geographically co-located, and networking with other tourism destinations as this co-location may propel tourism growth in a country destination.