Incentive Groups Remain Committed to Dominican Republic January 20, 2010 Haiti’s Nascent Tourism Plans Halted
By By Donna M. Airoldi
In the aftermath of last week’s devastating earthquake in Haiti, some leisure tourists are pulling the plug on their vacation plans to the neighboring Dominican Republic, which shares the eastern third of the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, even though its Ministry of Tourism released a statement last week announcing that “all transportation systems, communication systems, hotels, resorts, beaches and natural environment suffered no damage [from the earthquake].”
Incentive groups, however, are staying the course.
“Even though we’re concerned about what is going on in Haiti, all programs to the Dominican Republic are operating as planned,” says Tim Bruins, account manager for Maritz Travel, based in Fenton, MO, which has three big client programs, one in three waves, heading to Punta Cana between February and April.
“We had a lot of participants calling in, asking if we’re still planning on going,” adds Bruins. “We were concerned as well, but we have good relationships with the local suppliers who know what’s going on on the island, and the people in Punta Cana said they didn’t even feel [the earthquake].”
ITAGroup also is running an incentive travel trip to Punta Cana for a client with hundreds of participants, beginning in late January.
“At this point, no changes have been made to the program,” says Tanya Feldman, manager of group event management for the Des Moines, IA–based incentive house. “We are continuing to monitor the situation, but as it stands now, we will operate as originally planned. The only addition would be that we were already planning to do a community event by giving filled backpacks to local school children in the Dominican Republic, and while we will move forward with this, we are exploring options of providing items for the Haitian children as well.”
Punta Cana is the major tourism hub in the Dominican Republic and is approximately 400 miles east of Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital that sustained much of the quake damage. It’s a 10- to 12-hour drive between the two areas, with mountain ranges separating the two countries.
The main concerns coming from clients, “is whether the infrastructure has been affected in the Dominican Republic, which it hasn’t,” says Bruins, “or if there will be refugees from Haiti coming into the country, which as far I know is no. It’s not an open border back and forth.”
Other participants voiced concern about going on an incentive trip and lying on a beach while others are suffering not too far away. “There isn’t a specific donation program in play at this point,” says Bruins. “But one of the clients has a half-day volunteer program on the schedule to build a water filtration system in the Dominican Republic. And knowing these groups, I think there will be a grassroots effort to figure out a collection and how to help [the Haitians].”
While no participants have dropped out of the programs at this time, the companies are prepared to receive some.
Communication is key to make sure program participants have all the answers they need for any concerns regarding attending an incentive travel program, regardless of its location. For this situation, ITAGroup set up a special note for its customer service representatives, provided a four-page update memo to the client, and sent an email blast on behalf of the client directly to participants noting “that it’s important we continue to support the local island economy there because it is fragile and that we will be donating to churches, schools, etc., while we’re there.”
Haiti’s Tourism Hopes
The earthquake in Haiti put an indefinite freeze on nascent plans to boost the country’s tourism business. Prior to the natural disaster, Choice Hotels had announced it would open two new properties in Jacmel, a cultural center located on the country’s southern Caribbean coast, making it the first new chain hotels to open on the island in 10 years; plans were underway for a second international airport in Cap-Haitien, Haiti’s second-largest city; and former U.S. President Clinton, a special envoy to Haiti for the United Nations, was promoting tourism to the island. Once the rescue mission moves into full recovery and rebuilding mode, tourism is still primed to be a top option for economic growth to the long-struggling nation.
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