Dear Source:
I am a native of St. Croix living in the U.S. and I work for a company developing Web sites and e-commerce strategy for Fortune 500 companies. In actuality, the cost of the new Tourism Department site is not as outrageous as it may sound. Depending on the complexity (number of pages, technology uses etc.) of the Web site, my company develops solutions ranging from $150K (minimum) to well over $1 million. Having not seen the Tourism Web site I cannot say that it is worth $700K but yes, backroom developers can develop a site for $10K, and that is what you get. There are many other aspects that go into Web site development besides hardware and a pretty picture or two. The psyche of the users have to be taken into consideration, meaningful navigation etc.
Emerson Simon