p16 Columnist Jan 22 19/1/10 14:40 Page 16
news comment
ttglive.com
Derek Jones Kuoni
“The people of Haiti are not
strangers in a foreign land,
they are the parents of our
hotel staff in the Dom Rep. . .”
F
or a country so close to one of porting local initiatives to move essential sup-
our favourite Caribbean holiday plies over to people in Haiti
destinations, Haiti has remained Thomson Airways and Virgin Atlantic are fly-
surprisingly untouched by tourism. ing aid workers and rescue teams to the region,
Despite sharing the island of Hispaniola with the and Virgin is committed to flying in a minimum of
Dominican Republic, a destination visited over 55 tonnes of cargo.
the last 10 years by millions of British holiday- British Airways, as well as providing a Boeing
makers, for the majority of us in the UK travel 747 to fly out personnel and cargo, has pledged
industry Haiti is seldom mentioned and almost £300,000 from its Unicef Change for Good pas-
never visited. senger donation scheme.
Haiti receives fewer than a million visitors Royal Caribbean will provide at least $1 million
each year and of these about 600,000 come by in humanitarian relief and is delivering supplies
cruise ship and don’t stop over, and an esti- through its resort of Labadee where ships call
mated 350,000 are Haitian expats return- regularly on Caribbean itineraries. All of the com-
ing to visit family. pany’s net revenue from the destination will also
Last week’s earthquake has left the be contributed to the relief effort.
country shattered, with Haiti’s prime At Kuoni, we have pledged £25,000 towards
minister warning the eventual death the aid effort and we are involved with wider
toll could be over 100,000. In the im- industry initiatives to support the ongoing hu-
mediate aftermath of most natural manitarian relief effort.
disasters, the travel industry is For all of us working in the travel industry, the
generally focused on the safety world really is a smaller place. For us, Haiti is not
and well-being of customers, an unknown country four and half thousand
and in the longer term, working miles away; it’s a country on the doorstep of
with local partners to help re- many places we know well. The people of Haiti
build the infrastructure, but Haiti are not strangers in a foreign land, they are the
is a Caribbean country with no parents of our hotel staff in the Dom Rep, and
tourist infrastructure to speak of. the children of our crew on the cruise ships.
Despite having no vested in- In the long term hopefully there will be
terest in Haiti, airlines, oper- the opportunity for travel and tourism to
ators, cruise lines and travel help to bring recovery and stability to a
agents have been quick to re- country with more than its fair share of
spond with offers of assistance. chaos, but for now it’s just about humanity
Thomson and First Choice and providing help to those who need it most.
have already raised more than $10,000 through
holidaymakers in the Dominican Republic sup- Derek Jones, distribution director, Kuoni
16 22.01.2010
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