(Éco)tourisme en Haïti : le cas du mégaprojet Destination Île à Vache (original) (raw)

Walner Osna, 2022

Abstract

This paper questions the “Destination Île à Vache” tourism megaproject that claims to be (eco)touristic. We argue that the implementation in Île à Vache (Haiti) of this megaproject is rather contradictory to the theoretical foundations of ecotourism and is part of a dynamic of dispossession and land grabbing. Based on a qualitative field investigation conducted in Île Vache between December 2019 and January 2020, our argument confronts three major characteristics of ecotourism with the implementation of the project. First, the results of this research show the exclusion of the local population from the project. Second, the socio-environmental impacts of the project also question its ecotourism basis, as its implementation was more of a threat to the environment. Finally, we found that it weakened the socioeconomic conditions of the island’s farmers instead of improving them. We therefore conclude that Destination Île à Vache as a tourism megaproject illustrates the thesis that megaprojects cause dispossession, displacement, and impoverishment of the populations concerned.

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