Healthy reefs buoy Haitian hopes for tourism revival

From an article by Nathanial Gronewold in The New York Times:

ARCADINS COAST, Haiti -- There was a time when Haiti was known as the "Pearl of the Antilles," a Caribbean vacation destination as famous as Jamaica or Puerto Rico are today.

Haiti's sandy beaches and coral reefs lured tourists by the boatload. Its 1,100 miles of coast offered playgrounds for scuba divers, yachtsmen and cruise ships. And the tourism trade until the early 1990s provided solid incomes for Haitians.

"It was much easier because you had a lot of tourists," recalled Jose Roy, a Haitian dive master here. "You really didn't have to fight for survival."

The government and private entities want the good old days and the tourists to return. They are pouring money into schemes aimed at restoring and protecting marine areas, much of which are still pristine despite the devastation wrought on land by deforestation and dense development of wetlands and floodplains.