Figures of the St. Maarten Tourism Bureau (STB) reported on in Tuesday’s paper indicate that stayover arrivals during the past three months averaged 37.6 per cent compared to a year ago.
However, after 6,723 (27 per cent) in November the number of passengers increased to 13,488 (45 per cent) and 12,488 (39 per cent) in December and January, respectively.
Notably, there were more visitors in December than in January, while a year before it was the other way around. The main reason is probably new testing requirements at the start of 2021 for returning US passengers, good for 55 per cent of the total over the three-month period mentioned earlier.
But that picture is already changing with the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines particularly in North America and Europe, with major international travel industry players including airlines now moderately optimistic about the immediate future. The vacation market is expected to recover significantly starting this summer, spelling long-awaited relief for the dominant but hard-hit local hospitality sector.
Realistically, however, it may take until 2023 for the tourism economy to reach pre-pandemic levels as also predicted by Aruba. In the meantime, anything that can seriously jeopardise continued liquidity support and other financial assistance from the Netherlands at this point is best discouraged.
