Haiti sees big money reviving flagging tourism

MONTROUIS, Haiti (AP) — The Club Indigo beach resort north of the Haiti capital was crowded with U.N. peacekeepers, aid workers, diplomats and missionaries on a recent Sunday. But the only real, live tourists seemed to be Anne Fournier and her husband. The young couple from Montreal is a rarity in this afflicted country. Crime, health scares, hurricanes and the monster earthquake of January 2010 have badly damaged the tourism that was once a mainstay of the Haitian economy, attracting the likes of Mick Jagger and Jackie Onassis. Now the government is pinning its hopes on a surge of private investment in hotels and resorts, plus a Venezuelan-financed $13.2 million airport and new infrastructure on the southern island of Ile-a-Vache, and an $8 million development of the historic coastal town of Jacmel.