How tourism is helping the people of Haiti after last year's earthquake.

Our kayak tour guide in Labadee Haiti was great. He told us something near the end of the tour however that came as a surprise to all of us. In the middle of the water as all of our kayaks were bunched together, he gave us a heart felt thank you for visiting Labadee. He told us that we as tourists probably just think that by us visiting Labadee, it's just another stop on our vacation, but to him and other Haitians, we are helping them by pumping money into the economy and supporting their livelihoods. I discovered that as soon as a Royal Caribbean ship docks, the Haitian government automatically collects what is known as a "head tax". That means that the government gets a certain dollar amount from Royal Caribbean based on the amount of passengers aboard regardless whether they come ashore. Our tour guide also told us that Royal Caribbean also employees close to three hundred Haitians in Labadee to provide services to the guests, maintain the resort and provide security. He also mentioned the money that tourists pump into the economy by them buying from the local merchants. He acknowledged that Haiti is a poor country, and that he and others are very grateful for the tourists who come to Labadee. To liberals who might be reading this, let me put it another way. It's people with more money then the Haitian people who are actually helping the Haitian economy by spending their money there. That is how trickle down economics work. I remember last year in January when the earthquake struck Haiti, the media hung Royal Caribbean Cruise Line out to dry, because RCCL continued to visit Labadee after the earthquake.

Story from the uk guardian
Story from MSNBC



Don't associate The Young Turks with people who use common sense.It didn't take a rocket scientist to understand that as long as ships were docking in Labadee with tourists on board, Haiti was still collecting much needed money that it was using towards relief efforts from the earth quake. The media didn't cover that fact. The media also never researched how much money RCCL pumped into Haiti over the last 20 years leading up to the earthquake. The media also never stopped to ask the question on what would be the economic impact if RCCL did stop docking it's ships in Haiti out of "political correctness and sensitivity" after the quake. When the Haiti earthquake became "old news" to the media and they moved on to cover other stories and forgot about Haiti, this is what Royal Caribbean did that the media of course didn't cover.



The media never asked the Haitian people who rely on the cruise ships for their livelihood what they thought about the cruise ships continuing to come to haiti after the quake. They knew they would have gotten responses from the people that would have gone completely against the narrative they were trying to paint. This is what a Haitian guide and a merchant had to say about tourists visiting Haiti after the quake.



This is what the Minster of Tourism for Haiti had to say. His words along with what actual Haitians in Haiti had to say means way more then what the media and oversensitive liberals ever had to say on the subject.



The reason why RCCL was tarred and feathered by the press and some liberals was simply, because they saw Royal Caribbean as a capitalist enterprise making money while people in Haiti after the earthquake suffered. In the media's eyes, people who gave money as donations to help the people of Haiti were good and noble people, but the press as usual didn't want acknowledge that by Royal Caribbean continuing to dock in Labadee, they were helping just as much if not more. The media stopped talking about Haiti over a year ago, but Haiti is still being helped every time a Royal Caribbean ship docks. The capitalist action of tourism is still bringing in money to Haiti one tourist at a time, one cruise ship at a time. A feel good one time donation to the red cross can't accomplish that. If you get a chance. Visit Labadee Haiti and by you enjoying yourself and spending money, you will be helping the people of Haiti. I did, and I have no regrets only fond memories for doing so. I'll post my videos later.