As Haiti moves from emergency aid to the long-term task of rebuilding homes and communities, the equation as regards tourism has changed somewhat. There are urgent choices to be made – by international travel companies, aid organizations and tourism officials in Haiti. 

Jacmel, Haiti

One company which has made the right choice is Choice Hotels & Resorts. One day before the earthquake hit Haiti on Jan 12, Choice announced plans to open two properties in the Southern coastal town of Jacmel – a 32-room Comfort Inn hotel and a 120-room Ascend Collection member hotel. 

The Comfort Inn project is an existing hotel which is being converted. Choice has sent relief supplies directly to the property, which is still standing and providing shelter to guests and local families who lost their homes in the earthquake.

Brian Parker, VP emerging markets and new business development for Choice Hotels, says that the quake may set back timetables, but Choice Hotels still stands by its committment to Haiti and will be opening both properties. 

But it doesn’t always work out as nicely as this. Take, for example, the case of Cap-Haïtien, Haiti’s second largest city on the north coast. Before the quake, Cap-Haïtien’s airport was supposed to get a $30m upgrade to recieve international flights. Also in the works – a road connecting Labadee to Cap-Haïtien’s famed world heritage tourist attractions – the Citadel of Laferrière and the ruins of Sans Souci Palace.

Now, with the central government in shambles and the world’s attention focused on Port-au-Prince, these projects don’t look like a sure thing anymore. Cap-Haïtien Mayor Michel St Croix says they desperately need about $7 million to improve the roads and infrastructure.

They might have managed it on their own too, had they not been cut off from the tourist dollars of Labadee, 5 miles west of Cap-Haïtien. Labadee is Royal Caribbean’s private resort, on lease from Haiti until 2050. After a $55 million expansion in Labadee by Royal Caribbean, the fee per passenger was raised from $6 to $10.

Labadee, Haiti

Until 2004, the $6 per passenger paid to Haiti was divvied up, with $2 going to the National Treasury, $2 to the Tourism Ministry and $2 to Cap-Haïtien. But since the military coup in 2004, all of it goes straight to the National Treasury.

Last year, out of the 900,000 odd people who visited Haiti, 600,000 were Royal Caribbean cruise passengers at Labadee who never saw the rest of Haiti, and didn’t stay overnight. A majority of the rest were expats visiting their homes. Simply put, Haiti does not get many tourists.

Haiti now has a choice – they can go back to things as they were, or make changes to ensure the tourism dollars are spread around. They could:-

1. Put together a plan for international aid to help develop tourism infrastructure in towns all over Haiti.
2. Share tourist tax revenues with the provinces.
3. Convince cruise companies to stay longer. Offer transportation and safety for cruise passengers who want to visit nearby towns.

According to Patrick Delatour, the Haitian Tourism Minister, the initial cost of Haiti’s reconstruction is expected to be around $3 billion, most of which will be focused on rebuilding Port-au-Prince. If even a small fraction of this amount is spent on developing tourism infrastructure outside the capital, we’ll be looking at a vastly improved Haiti in 5-10 years.

Jacmel photo by Spyder00Boi; Labadee photo by Rob Inh00d

The cruise industry has been thumbing its nose at consumer groups and regulators for well over a decade, but it now looks like the big boys are finally catching some serious flak, from congressional legislation to social media criticism. 

Listed below are five such deadly sins of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE: RCL) & Carnival Corporation (NYSE: CCL), the two biggest players in the cruise sector. These issues seem to be getting a lot of media coverage, but the murky facts surrounding these issues aren’t all that well known.

US territory ends here...

Offshore Registration
Royal Caribbean:- Head office – Miami, Fla.; Incorporation – Republic of Liberia; Ships registered in – Bahamas
Carnival:- Head Office – Doral, Fla.; Incorporation - Panama; Ships registered in – Panama/Bahamas

These safe harbors offer cheap registration fees with little or no taxes. Inspite of the fact that North American passengers made up 76.5% of the 13.445 million people who took a cruise in 2009, both companies pay no corporate income tax in the United States. Their ships are not subject to US labor law and other regulations.

Cruise Ship Pollution

Pollution
Royal Caribbean:- Pleaded guilty in 1999 to illegal waste dumping – paid $27 million in fines; Signed agreement with environmental group Oceana in 2004 to upgrade entire fleet with wastewater treatment systems. Agreement not yet fulfilled.
Carnival:- Pleaded guilty in 2002 to illegal waste dumping – paid $18 million in fines; Still evaluating whether or not to install advanced waste treatment technology as a uniform policy on existing ships across all brands.

The cost of installing the wastewater treatment system varies in between $1 million to $10 million per ship. As per RCI, they’re spending $100m on it, and it takes nearly a year to manufacture, install and commission each ship with it.

To put that in perspective, consider that 14 new ships representing a total investment of $4.7 billion were launched in 2009 by the cruise industry, including RCI’s $1.4 billion Oasis of the Seas. $6.5 billion is being spent on 12 new vessels to be introduced in 2010. In the third quarter of 2009, Royal Caribbean posted a profit of $230.4 million, while Carnival notched up $1 billion. The Clean Cruise Ship Act introduced in Congress might speed up things a bit on the pollution front.

Columbus Beach at Labadee, Haiti

Disaster-ous Policy
Royal Caribbean:- Despite widespread criticism in the aftermath of the quake which flattened Port-au-Prince, RCI has refused to scrap cruise stopovers in Labadee, Royal Caribbean’s own piece of gated paradise in Haiti.    
Carnival:- Came under the spotlight for finagling FEMA into giving them a $236 million charter contract for housing Katrina evacuees aboard three of their ships.

Royal Caribbean has promised at least $1 million towards the Haiti aid effort. Carnival has promised $5 million.

Cougar Cruise

Cougar Cruises
Royal Caribbean:- After Carnival said it was scrapping a Cougar Cruise, Royal Caribbean picked it up, and the second Cougar Cruise now shifts to Royal Caribbean’s Mariner of the Seas, from May 16-23, 2010.
Carnival:- Carnival set the ball rolling on cougar cruises by hosting a 3-night (Dec 4-7, 2009) cruise for the Los Gatos, Ca based Singles Travel Company onboard the Carnival Elation.

Without passing judgment on the morality of a cougar cruise, fact remains that Seniors are the cruise industry’s lifeblood, and as such, it’s not good business policy to create an impression that your cruise ships are not family-friendly – which is why Carnival scrapped the cruise. 

Oasis of the Seas docked at Labadee, Haiti

World’s Largest Cruise Ships
Royal Caribbean:- Top 5 largest ships – Oasis of the Seas & Allure of the Seas (pending launch), Freedom of the Seas, Liberty of the Seas, Independence of the Seas.
Carnival:- Top 5 largest ships – Queen Mary 2, Carnival Dream, Ruby Princess, Diamond Princess, Sapphire Princess

The RMS Titanic was built by White Star, which was acquired by Cunard, which in turn is now owned by Carnival. Its been 100 years since the Titanic, and the ships just keep getting bigger, consume more and cost even more – The Oasis of the Seas is 5 times as big as the Titanic. Carnival and Royal Caribbean have alternately owned the title of ‘The World’s Largest Cruise Ship’ for at least 15 years running.

Photo credits:- Mariner of the Seas – Rennett Stowe; Pollution - Oceana; Labadee – Rob Inh00d; Oasis of the Seas – Nick Hobgood

The earthquake in Haiti has affected 3 million people, with casualties expected to be in excess of 50,000. Aid is being mobilized on a worldwide scale and the needs and logistics are astoundingly massive.

Haiti Presidential Palace (before & after ) quake

If you wish to donate, listed below are the travel companies who collect loyalty points from members and forward equivalent cash donations to the Red Cross.

Also listed alongside are the dollar values of the donated loyalty points, which is interesting since this value is usually subjective due to the large number of variables involved - such as membership level; and how, where and when you choose to spend the points, etc.

Starwood Starpoints – Starwood allows SPG members to transfer Starpoints to charities including the American Red Cross. For every 4000 Starpoints donated, Starwood will make a $50 donation. Each Starpoint = $0.0125

Hilton HHonors - Under the Hilton HHonors Giving Back program, for every 10,000 points donated, Hilton HHonors will send U.S. $25 to the charity of your choice. Each Hilton HHonors point = $0.0025 

Marriott Rewards – Marriott has a quantitative grading level for converting points into cash donations. A donation of 18,000 points will result in a $50 American Red Cross Marriott Cheque. $100=33,000; $250=60,000; and $1000=180,000

So the more points you donate, the higher the donated cash value of each point. The donated cash dollar value of each point thus varies from in between $0.0027 to $0.0055.  The average comes out to $0.0038

IHG Priority Club Rewards – No dollar value specified.

 Choice Priviliges Points - Every 1000 donated Choice Priviliges points result in a $5 donation. Each Choice Priviliges Point = $0.005

If you think it’s too simplistic to peg each Hilton HHonors point at $0.0025 just because a donation of 10,000 Hilton HHonors points results in a $25 cash donation, I agree. So read this and this. The study for Starwood is here and the one for Marriott is here.

Has to be mentioned here that Bill Marriott says his foundation is sending $500,000 to the Red Cross Haiti Relief and Development Fund. This is independent of any donations made via Marriott Rewards points.

It is a bit easier for the airlines, who can offer in kind services to aid organizations.

United‘s system is probably the best of the lot. They’re asking for mileage donations, which are then used by the American Red Cross to assist in getting aid workers to affected areas. There’s no dollar conversion involved. To top it off, the United Airlines Foundation is also matching contributions up to a total of fifty thousand dollars to the American Red Cross.

American and Spirit are going in a direction opposite to the hotels - asking for cash donations, and rewarding contributors with bonus miles.

If you want to donate directly to the Red Cross, you can donate $10 to Haiti relief by texting ‘Haiti’ to 90999. If you want to donate online, here’s the Haiti donation link on RedCross.org.

Before photo by M_Eriksson; After photo by plasmastik