I think that is great that Japanese potential tourists are

Following up on Japan=Tourism from the Orient, I think that is great that Japanese potential tourists are considering Haiti.

James, the people who responded to this blog are right.

The security and kidnapping issue is a huge problem in Haiti.

Even the Haitian diaspora is afraid of coming to Haiti.

That is why I was trying to advocate "safe spots" in Haiti one can go to. The capital is not the only place.

You have Labadie, Port-Morgan, Jacmel for now that are considered "safe spots".

We have to start with these baby steps before marketing other areas.

As far as getting another major airline to come to Haiti that would be great.

As far as getting multi-national companies like Hilton to come to Haiti, that would be superb.

I can cite examples throughout history where big companies try to come to Haiti but for some reason the deals were canceled.

Is it because corruption.

Probably.

1) I believe in the 1950's, FORD offered Haiti a deal where Haiti had to buy Ford products only for 5 years in return they would have build highways and roads for the country.

The deal fell through and Ford ended going to the Dominican Republic instead.

Perhaps the Haitian government asked them for some corruption money on the side to make the deal go through and Ford rejected.

Just a theory.

2) Before the death of Francois Duvalier in 1971, Duvalier had a deal to build a port and airport on Tortuga island.

Furthermore, they had a deal to build a 300 million dollar mega resort sponsored by the Gulf company which would have been the biggest resort in the caribbean.

They even signed a 99 year lease.

They started building the port and airport.

After the death of Francois and when his son Jean-Claude came into power, the deal fell through.

3) The only international resort company that was successfull to penetrate the Haitian market was ClubMed.

In 1986 after the fall of Jean-Claude Duvalier, they closed their doors.

4) In 2002, the Hilton company signed a deal with Haiti to build an Hotel by the airport in PAP. The ribbons were cut and the hotel was about to be built.

Once again the deal fell through.

Who knows why.

The current ambassador for Haiti was asked why international companies do not want to deal with Haiti.

She said, that many companies have tried but it is because of corruption and lack of security that they do not want to take the chance.

Well let us keep on truckin' and try to approach the companies to come into Haiti and open up the place.