For comparison purposes, Wikipedia says the island got 1.8 million cruise passengers and .5 million passengers via the airport in 2013. Of course, that's not always the most accurate source, but it does give at least some idea of the size of current tourism.

There was so much that was weird in that article...the Chinese promising other water sources for agriculture....which would be? And electrical upgrades that don't rely on petroleum? (This from a country known for its lack of environmental protection and terrible pollution of its own land.)

A negotiation process where the Chinese spoke no English, and their representative (from Turkey, was it?) spoke no Chinese. I know it's common to have a translator for international business, but did the SXM government have a representative that spoke Chinese?

And no reporting of what responses the audience at the hearing got to its legitimate questions, although I suspect the average citizen doesn't get heard often anyway.

I understand that the island relies on tourism and needs to advance the industry, but it seems amazing the the leaders could be gullible enough to believe what's been promised. So who's going to pocket money on this deal?