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Why tourism shouldn’t be our only way out (from the Martin Mathelier Project)

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Martin Mathelier

From “The Martin Mathelier Project”

Note from the editor : I am compelled to relay this article from my friend Martin Mathelier from the  » Martin Mathelier Project « . I couldn’t agree more that we shouldn’t just rely on tourism as a mean to develop Haiti, as we embark on what seems to be  our final journey toward the rebuilding of our once beautiful country.


One of the points Martin made with regard to a country like Jamaica is right on the money, when you consider the  exposure resulting from being overly dependent on an industry whose well being is tied to economic conditions in Western nations.Furthermore, in the case of these smaller nations, they don’t really have much of a choice as they cannot offer the large labor force that our country is able to provide.


At a time when Western companies are outsourcing their manufacturing all the way to countries like China,India, South Korea,Thailand  and so forth, we are definitely well positioned to offer them a more viable alternative, considering we’re a stone throw from Florida, compared to those far away places.


 Imagine what a $2US per hour minimum wage would do for our economy if we could offer US and European companies a stable political environment and well balanced tax breaks to make it  easy and  profitable to invest in our country. Hopefully, Martin’s line of thinking will resonate with Haiti’s decision makers so we don’t end up mortgaging unwittingly our nation’s future by relying excessively on one industry when so many opportunities are available to us . (kgp)

La Ministre du Tourisme Stephanie Villedrouin Balmir presentant le nouveau logo

publicitaire d’Haiti le 4 Juin 2012


 Please enjoy and especially think about the concept that you are about to read. This idea describes a vision that I have for Haiti (our country). Of course, this expose is only conceptual for now. For implementation and execution, a team of knowledgeable and competent individuals would need to spend countless number of hours developing and refining this basic concept before it could ever be realized. Since I am a student of philosophy, and as Plato stated in the Demiurge, something has to exist in the world of idea before it can become a reality. Lastly, as with all of my articles, this idea is only my personal view, so if you disagree, it is alright!!- . 

In “The Martin Mathelier Project” blogosphere, please comment and make suggestions about this article and others like it, we love to hear your opinion about our editorial. The other thing I cannot emphasize enough is that; – 

“An idea is never wasted if only to stimulate new and better ideas” ~ MM


This concept came to me during my world travels after observing, studying, talking to as many people that were willing to speak to me. I researched many “so-called” upcoming third world Caribbean countries (such as Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Bermuda and The Bahamas etc…). For a while, my vision for the future development of Haiti was in line with the model adapted by these countries which I mentioned above. My intention here is not to elaborate on their development plan, even if I probably could write an entire book on the subject. Nonetheless if I can summarize my observance in one statement it would; the World Bank is executing a plan for these countries which is designed to make them attractive for tourism. All their economics activities for are channeled towards tourism. The Investment in major hotels & resorts are presented as the key to leverage the natural beauty of these places. The main idea is to attract investors to the hospitality businesses in these Caribbean nations. Supposedly, other economics opportunities will follow and others activity will be derived from tourism. I want to be clear, I am not against this line of thinking, and I would even go as far as to say that, it is necessary in the short term for a country like Haiti. However, what I have observed in Jamaica, the Dominican Republic and The Bahamas led me to believe that this approach cannot and should not be the end of the solution for Haiti. 

My observation is simple; all these societies became subservient to tourism with no real wealth creation opportunities for the majority of people of living there. Only foreign investors, the few locals willing to mortgage their lands and the politicians get wealthy. The average individual (although, he can now have a menial job) became a servant to tourism. Once again, I support the idea that this situation creates job but it cannot be and should not be the end. And certainly, at the inception of a development plan for Haiti this tourism model cannot and should not be the roots that are planted. 

Let us go back into the world history, and study countries like United States of America which just like Haiti took their independence from a metropolis. They did not settle for second best. America became the most develop country in the modern era. Their main asset was never tourism although their land had a lot of natural beauty. Their main assets were brain powers and their strong desires along with real patriotism and a “dream”. In more recent time, the country of Israel did not based their development plan on tourism. They set out to be a industrialize nation from the start which they are now (of course they had a lot of support in achieving it – This is a topic for another day). I do not think that I need to go down the list of countries that were successful without becoming subservient to tourism. Once again do not get me wrong, tourism is a good economic activity and it is welcome all over the world, The City of NY is one of the greatest tourist attraction of the world however, it is not the engine of the state of NY’s economy.


Now that I have establish a baseline for my editorial– let me share with you my vision for the island of Haiti. Do not forget that this a truncated version of an entire philophical essay. First of all, I think that the path to tourism development should continue its course in Haiti. It is, as I stated above, the short term solution to a very bad situation. However at the same, I think we should introduce a concept which I named “Economy of de-compartmentalization” for lack of a better name:

The concept is simple really! The country need to de-compartmentalize into economics regions (which I am calling “centers of excellence”) and each region should be dedicated to its most favorable industry. I am going only for illustrative purpose, discuss a very simple plan. First of all, I think that Haiti should leverage its strength (agriculture). There is nothing wrong with a country elevating their agriculture to world stage. All you need is to organize it in an industrialize manner. Haiti can follow the footsteps of countries like Holland with dairy production and Columbia with their coffee. Etc?

For instance, Haiti should be divided into regions or sectors where each region will specializes in producing mainly one product. A processing plant will need to be constructed in order to package preserve, and distribute this product to the rest of the country and the world. This factory should modern and expandable (Since this is only the concept layout I will not go into the detail of plant or factory design. Hopefully, during later discussions, we will elaborate on this aspect of the vision). I am not going into the detail of the plan yet, however, I hope you can see how this can be a catalyst for job creation as well as wealth generating opportunities.

Brief Illustration –
As an example, the entire South East region can produce a widget product (for now let’s pretend it is plantain for the sake of this argument) – Why will it work –The processing plant will offer technical support to all the plantations in the area to optimize production. Some plantations will be privately owned by individual land owners and some by the industry. The beauty of the idea is that, since all the plantations are now consolidated, the expertise can be spread and the irrigation can be standardized which will contribute to a superior product. I guess by now you can begin to see where I am going with this exercise. Next, financial institutions will start making loans to land owners because they can see where the re-payment will come from. The economy of the entire region will be based on the collectivism of the land (which I have called “capitalism of the cooperative system”.
Now let us imagine that you can expand this concept and apply the same hypothesis throughout the entire country of Haiti. For instance, in the East based on research which will be done, a decision can be made to raise cattles. In the South West the Fishery industry can be at the center of that region. In the North, maybe rice plantations can be in order. Of course a risk assessment will need to done to evaluate the probability of success of each of these commodities.

These will offer opportunities to stimulate the entrepreneurial spirit for wealth creation, of course tourism will still be existent but the nation will not be  subservient  to tourism which will not be the only source for opportunities.

I just scratched the top of the concept to introduce it to “The Martin Mathelier project” readers. If you guys think the concept has value please share with your friend invite them to the group. I believe that if we work at it together it can become a reality. 
Peace

Read more from Martin at facebook.com/martinmathelierproject







 

 

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