Hoteliers are generally optimistic that 2012 will bring a modest recovery to Caribbean tourism arrivals, but at a recent conference in San Juan, there was plenty of grumbling that for too long, hotels have been shouldering an unfair tax burden when compared to the cruise industry.
The San Juan cruise ship port has made it into an elite group of 16 such facilities around the world that welcomed more than a million passengers last year, rubbing shoulders with major U.S. mainland and European cities.
Last year, Haiti received around 600,000 foreigners — half of them “diaspora Haitians” visiting family and friends. The other half was largely business executives and representatives of NGOs. This excludes the 600,000 cruise Haship tourists who called on Labadie, Royal Caribbean’s private island off the north coast of Haiti.
A Dow Jones/Factiva content provider since 2014
Subscribe to our Dollars & Sense podcast!
