Above: the Moulin Sur Mer Hotel, one of Expedia’s partners in Haiti

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Travel giant Expedia is making big moves in Haiti.

The company reported this week that it had been making a “significant” expansion in Haiti, as the country looks to build its tourism sector.

“Although not traditionally recognized as a popular Caribbean destination, interest in Haiti is on the rise with new hotel and resort openings and developments expected in the near future. Furthermore, with 40 new hotel partnerships formed in 2014,” said Demetrius Canton, director of lodging partner services for the Caribbean at Expedia. “Expedia’s footprint in Haiti is quickly providing our hoteliers with global visibility, strategic marketing tools and the latest technology.”

The company said it had chosen to dedicate a market manager for the country “in order to focus on building partnerships and better supporting hoteliers.”

According to the company, travel demand on Haiti on Expedia group sites rose by nearly 500 percent year over year.

“In the past year, Expedia focused efforts on developing new partnerships in Haiti and have yielded impressive results for local hoteliers through targeted promotions and marketing campaigns,” said Maya de Campos, Market Manager for Haiti at Expedia. “We are looking forward to continuing this positive trend through 2015 and beyond.”

Haiti has been seeing strong growth in tourism arrival numbers and in hotel development over the last few years as it has sought to reignite its long-dormant tourism industry.

“Expedia Group has been a strong ally for the Ministry of Tourism of Haiti, particularly in driving demand to our local hotels,” said Haiti Tourism Minister Stephanie Villedrouin. “Through our close collaboration with Expedia, we look forward to increasing our exposure to markets around the world via marketing campaigns, strategic promotions and the latest technology. Haiti relies on strong partners like Expedia to capitalize on the opportunities in today’s market and achieve commercial success in the numerous tourism projects that we are currently developing.”