17031: jhudicourt: Re: 17029: Labrom: 17018 - Database for visitors (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: JHUDICOURTB@aol.com


In a message dated 10/24/03 9:22:51 AM, corbetre@webster.edu writes:

<< So its impossible to know how many of each of these groups are

coming in.  Believe me the Cruise ship passengers, the Diaspora and the

mission groups are the biggest - certainly not the tourists - shame shame. >>

Mission groups are tourists.  They come to see the poverty and want to feel
useful .They are just a different kind of tourism.  If they just wanted to help
the cost of their trip to Haiti would be donated and they wouldn't come.  It
probably costs about U$1,000 for each of these  people to spend a week in
Haiti if you include the cost of the ticket.  Whatever work they do could just as
well be done by a Haitian for about 5 percent of that cost.  Most of them do
manual labor which costs less than U$4 a day when done by a Haitian .One
thousand US dollars a month can hire a full time  young doctor .  The cost of the
trip for 12 missionary would cover a whole year to offer a full-time doctor to a
clinic.  So the missions are not economically a benefit for Haiti except as
tourism.