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The Associated Press reports that the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is considering building a hotel and conference center in Haiti on part of a $10.5 million property that it bought after the 2010 earthquake.
The hope is that profits could sustain the work of Haiti’s local Red Cross in the coming years, the head of the international group’s Haitian delegation said Monday.
The 10-acre compound, known as the “Hilton Property,” was purchased from Comme Il Faut, Haiti’s local cigarette company, in the months after the quake. Now that its work is winding down in Haiti, the international Red Cross is putting together an exit strategy and as part of that process is trying to figure out what to do with this property. If a marketing feasibility study determines a hotel or conference center seems viable, the Red Cross will open the project to bidders.
Raymond Joseph, a former ambassador to the United States, welcomed the project, saying it would expand the number of hotel rooms in Haiti and create employment opportunities in a country where there are few.
There is precedent for the Red Cross building a hotel. The Red Court Hotel, a four-star hotel in Kenya, is owned by the Kenya Red Cross Society and all proceeds go toward the charity. |
