Port-au-Prince, Haiti – The Expedia group, one of the world’s largest online travel companies, reported today significant expansion in the Haiti market in 2014, including increased travel demand, hotel partner acquisitions and a surge in mobile and package bookings for the burgeoning destination. With increased flight arrivals, new hotel and resort accommodations and a flourishing art and culinary scene, Haiti is quickly being recognized as a desirable travel destination.
“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, Expedia’s footprint in Haiti is quickly providing our hoteliers with global visibility, strategic marketing tools and the latest technology,” said Demetrius Canton, Director of Lodging Partner Services for the Caribbean, Expedia group.
Expedia elected to dedicate a market manager to the country in order to focus on building partnerships and better supporting hoteliers, which resulted in more than 40 new hotel partnerships in 2014 alone, including Hôtel du Roi Christophe, Club Indigo, Moulin Sur Mer, Villa Thérèse and Le Plaza Hotel among others.
With a range of new accommodation options, travel demand to Haiti on Expedia group sites increased nearly 500 percent YoY. Expedia local market managers provide valuable market insight to hotel partners so they can set their distribution strategy. Market managers can help identify opportunities to better fill rooms at the right rate by suggesting targeted promotions. They can also help hoteliers understand market forces at play, like the growth of mobile, so that hoteliers can make adjustments to get at least their fair share of demand.
“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, Expedia group. “We are looking forward to continuing this positive trend through 2015 and beyond.”
The Expedia group is also pleased to announce an unprecedented rise of approximately 800 percent in total demand generated to Haiti via mobile devices in 2014 when compared to the previous year. Expedia group’s mobile applications were designed to allow travelers to plan their trips and book in a convenient, flexible way. Expedia group consistently provides expert advice to hotel partners on how to take advantage of mobile platforms and participate on exclusive mobile promotions, flash sales and more, creating opportunities for both the consumer and the hotelier.
Additional data from Expedia includes a major increase in package bookings to Haiti of nearly 500 percent in 2014 when compared to 2013. Package booking are bookings that combine components like flights and hotel. These bookings are extremely valuable for hoteliers as they generally feature twice the length of stay, are booked two times further in advance and have half the cancellation rate of a standalone (i.e. hotel only) booking.
“Expedia Group has been a strong ally for the Ministry of Tourism of Haiti, particularly in driving demand to our local hotels,” said Stephanie Villedrouin, Minister of Tourism of Haiti. “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.”
Expedia seeks to continue to add more properties to its portfolio in 2015, to support tourism growth in Haiti and the region. By working with the Expedia group, hotels in Haiti gain exposure to the more than 150 websites in more than 70 countries worldwide, in addition to a myriad of mobile sites and apps, from brands such as Expedia.com®, Hotels.com®, Hotwire®, Egencia®, Travelocity®, Expedia Affiliate Network® and Venere®.
