Following an intense design competition, the Ministry of Tourism in Haiti has finally released their new logo, featuring the winning design and tagline.

Under the tagline "Experience it," the new logo shows the country's unofficial national flower, the red hibiscus or "choublak," which melds into a yellow sun. The slogan, "experience it," will be translated to "L'expérience" in French, "Se la pou'w la" in kreyol and "La experiencia" in Spanish.

At the recent logo launch, Minister of Tourism Stephanie Villedrouin said the design will be at the forefront of the country's rebranding as a tourist destination. Currently, Haiti has five hotels and 763 hotel rooms in development, with a Digicel-backed Marriott hotel slated to open in 2014 in Port-au Prince. Jacmel has been the particular focus for boutique hotel development, thanks to investment support by Miami-based investor Michael Capponi.

Wining design

The winning graphic, featuring the red choublak, was designed by Haitian-born graphic designer Xavier Delatour from Blue Mango studios in Petionville. In an interview with Manman Pemba, Delatour said he was inspired to use the choublak flower because of its unique history, from being used as a cold remedy to its unique name, meaning "shoe black," from its use by marines to shine their shoes.

The winning slogan, "experience it" is a shortened version composed by South Florida's own Diana Pierre-Louis from Lake Worth. She is a public relations professional and founder of website, realhaiti.com, which promotes Haitian cultural awareness. Pierre-Louis has been very active in the South Florida Haitian-American community, and was recently crowned as the first Ms. May 18 by the Haitian Heritage Museum in Miami.

The winners were chosen from the top 50 designs voted for on the Ministry of Tourism website among over 400 entries. The competition, which was launched in May, encouraged entries from both designers in Haiti and among the Haitian Diaspora.