The restart of monthly meetings between the St. Maarten Tourist Bureau (STB) and the St. Maarten Hospitality and Trade Association (SHTA) reported on in Wednesday’s paper is most welcome. As the country struggles to restore its tourism economy devastated by Hurricane Irma exactly one year ago, it’s important to have all proverbial noses pointing in the same direction.
That there has been some measure of friction between the two respectively public and private sector entities is no big secret. For example, the proposed structure and board membership of the St. Maarten Tourism Authority (STA) that is to take over the destination’s marketing and promotion from government was a bone of contention in the not-too-distant past.
However, this is most definitely not the time to be fighting “turf wars.” Figures released by SHTA showed that up to recently just 34 per cent of the Dutch side’s pre-Irma timeshare units were available, which is expected to increase to 37 per cent at the end of the third quarter and 56 per cent by 2019.
At the end of next year’s first quarter the number of hotel rooms is estimated to reach 2,167. That would be 70 per cent of the existing inventory before September 6, 2017.
It seems clear that this dominant part of the local hospitality industry will only be running at about half capacity for much of the upcoming “high” winter season. As stayover tourism provides the bulk of the island’s income, putting as many “heads in beds” as possible under the current circumstances – along with getting more resorts and the airport back in full operation – should obviously be a top priority.
Working together to ensure that efforts to make these things happen are well-coordinated and in keeping with the reality on the ground makes all the sense in the world. St. Maarten is blessed with a great many professionals in the field who, when they join forces, can make an awesome team.
