Above: Haiti Tourism Minister Stephanie Villedrouin and WTO SG Taleb Rifai (Photo: MT Haiti)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Taleb Rifai, the Secretary General of the UN’s World Tourism Organization, is currently on a visit to Haiti, joined by Carlos Vogeler, the UNWTO’s regional director for the Americas.

The four-day visit comes about a year after Rifai met with Haiti Tourism Minister Stephanie Villedrouin in Madrid, the base of the UNWTO.

It is the first visit by a World Tourism Organization Secretary General in 14 years.

The two sides will also sign a Memorandum of Understanding on the visit aimed at strengthening cooperation between the two organizations to improve the image of Haiti as a tourist destination.

Rifai will be participating in a conference with the Tourism Association of Haiti under the theme of “Haiti: On the Tourist Map of the World.”

Meetings are also planned between Rifai and Haiti Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe and the country’s ministers of culture, education, finance, foreign affairs, among others.

Rifai will also visit the Sans-Souci palace, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, along with a trip to the Musee de Pantheon National in Port-au-Prince.

Haiti has been a member of the World Tourism Organization since 1975.

Taleb, a native of Jordan, has been the organization’s Secretary General since 2009.