The document discusses the role of tour guides in Haiti and analyzes their portrayal in the travel book "Bonjour Blanc, A Journey Through Haiti". It finds that in Haiti, tour guides initially served mainly as bodyguards for safety due to the unstable political situation. It also notes that locals play a major role in tourists' experiences through sharing information and facilitating interactions. However, the book provides a negative depiction of tour guides as uneducated and predatory. For tourism in Haiti to develop, changes are needed across the industry to allow tour guiding to become a true profession.

1. THE CONTRIBUTION OF TOUR GUIDES TO DESTINATION
UNDERSTANDING AND IMAGE. THE CASE OF HAITI VIA
AN ANALYSIS OF: ‘BONJOUR BLANC, A JOURNEY
THROUGH HAITI’
Dr Hugues SERAPHIN
The University of Winchester
CREDDI-LEAD EA 2438 (Université des Antilles Guyane)
hugues.seraphin@winchester.ac.uk
International Research Forum on Guided Tours , 2013 (4,5,6
April) Breda University of Applied Science (NHTV)

2. Ian
Thomson
Reade
rs
IAN THOMSON / LOCALS / TRAVEL WRITING /
READERS

3. What does it
mean to be a tour
guide in Haiti?
Who are the actual
tour guides in Haiti?
KEY QUESTIONS

4. Originals / Pathfinders
Animators
Tour leaders
Professionals
MAJOR FUNCTIONS OF A TOUR GUIDE
(Cohen, 1985)

5. People do not trust tour
guides
Limited knowledge
Poor payment for the
job
Can do little to ensure
security of tourists
Non registered guides
Inability to meet expectations of tourists
No decent entertainment in the country
Local do not always treat tourists properly
Poor connectivity with other areas with tourism
potential CHALLENGE FACED BY ‘PROFESSIONAL’ TOUR GUIDES
IN HAITI
adaptation of Prakash et al (2011)

6. Haiti is an unsecure destination (Higate & Henry, 2009)
Haiti is a place where the worse is always likely to happen
(Bonnet, 2010)
THE BODYGUARD FUNCTION OF THE TOUR GUIDE
IN HAITI

7. Quotes from ‘Bonjour
Blanc, a journey
through Haiti’:
‘You should never – never – be
walking around Port-au-Prince like
that on your own. It’s dangerous.
There’s a siege, you understand’
‘You need a guide’ wheedled Michael.
‘For protection, understand?’
‘The inhabitants of this village were considered hostile
and suspicious'.
‘We began to walk, Michael and I, along the Carrefour road, a red light
district which at night apparently teems with thieves and ghouls’
THE BODYGUARD FUNCTION OF THE TOUR GUIDE
IN HAITI

8. Function of the tour
guide in Haiti:
F1 –
Originals/Pathfinders
(Bodyguard)
F2 – Tour Leaders
F3 – Professionals
F4 - Animators
THE BODYGUARD FUNCTION OF THE TOUR GUIDE
IN HAITI

9. 2 1
 Original/Pathfinder = Body-guard  Original/Pathfinder = Bodyguard
 Tour Leaders
3 4
 Original/Pathfinder  Original/Pathfinder
 Tour Leaders  Tour Leaders
 Professionals  Professionals
 Animators
1= Dictatorship / civil war / etc TO 4= Stability / democracy)
FUNCTIONS OF TOUR GUIDES IN INSTABLE
DESTINATIONS (Like Haiti)

10. Role of the tour guide
rather limited in ‘Bonjour
blanc, a journey through
Haiti’:
Chapter 3: Paris of the
gutter
Chapter 5: The white
black men of Europe
THE LOCALS IN HAITI: THE TOUR
GUIDES

11. Negative description of the tour
guides in ‘Bonjour blanc, a journey
through Haiti’
Witch
The man was terribly tall and thin, with sharp
cheekbones and an aquiline curve to the nose
Ignorant
I’m English, not American’
‘
‘So you live in New York?’
Vulture
‘I’m not a bad guy. I’m just hungry. So, you won’t mind if I have some of
that chicken, no?’
THE LOCALS IN HAITI: THE TOUR
GUIDES

12. The locals are playing a major
role in the tourists experience
Transferring detailed
information and interpreting
attractions, and sites
Facilitating interaction
between tourists and the
environment
Interacting and socialising
with tourists
The functions of the tour guide described by Cohen (1985) and
by Ap and Wrong (2001), are functions that are not only
endorsed by the professional tour guide but also function that
locals are also endorsing in Haiti, meaning the professional
tour guides are not the only one capable of enhancing the
experience of the tourists
THE LOCALS IN HAITI: THE TOUR
GUIDES

13. Tour guides contribute to the
image of the destination (Dahles,
2002)
Locals have a major role to play,
e.g.:
•Conde Marimon (Owner of
Auberge Bolivar)
•Madame Lexima (Vodoo ‘Ougan’)
•Madame Thoby (Owner of Hotel
Sambo)
•Etc.
In Haiti, tour guide can be a ‘real’ profession, only and only if changes are
made in all sectors of the tourism industry. Too many factors (internal and
external) are stopping the development and evolution of the profession
TALK THE TALK, WALK THE WALK

14. The tour guiding sector of a destination (in our case,
Haiti) can be a reflexion, even an allegory of the tourism
industry of the destination.
CONCLUSION

15. ‘Haiti is a country of incredible intensity and extremes –
One of the most astonishing places on earth’
(Thomson, 2004: 364)
‘BONJOUR BLANC, A JOURNEY
THROUGH HAITI’

16. PHOTOS: Bruno MARIANI

17. THANK YOU FOR YOUR
ATTENTION
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