The 9.3 out of 10 average passenger review for Port St. Maarten announced during the recent SeatradeCruise Global Conference in Miami (see Wednesday paper) is obviously welcome news, especially as it had still been 9.1 in January. The harbour bounced back remarkably well from catastrophic Hurricane Irma, as the number of ship calls shows, and continues to grow despite suffering physical damage not just from Irma but several tropical systems in the past decade such as Gonzalo in 2014 and Omar in 2008, never mind lost income due to countless storms, very high seas or large swells and different weather-related issues.
The downtown shopping area and various attractions around the island are also recovering, be it certain parts more slowly than others. Nevertheless, as the delegation that attended Seatrade also recognised, it is important to address areas that need improvement, while creating new programmes to drive sales, enhancing the visitor experience and increasing return guests was mentioned too.
An aspect that seemingly demands some attention is the treatment potential clients, including tourists, get particularly in Philipsburg. It likely depends a lot on where and to whom you talk, but in addition to being frequently approached by street vendors and barkers, reports indicate an occasionally less-than-super-friendly and helpful attitude once inside businesses.
One thing about which people tend to wonder is the often hardly-visible or completely-lacking pricing of products in stores, which is legally required. That may have to do with the tradition of seeking a great deal or bargain as actively promoted on board cruise ships.
Times change, however, and this is the age of transparency when most consumers want things to be open and clear up front. The Internet has also given them access to so much online information they may already know approximately what a given item is worth.
Customer service in general could probably use a boost, and while the individual cost might be prohibitive, merchants as a group, perhaps with assistance from the Chamber of Commerce or business associations, ought to consider utilising the upcoming low season to organise affordable refresher courses for their staff, similar to what was done with employees of resorts forced to close post-Irma.
After all, even what is good can always get better.
