The three Dutch Caribbean countries having returned to a travel code yellow advisory (see related story) in the Netherlands, allowing for leisure trips, is obviously good news. The European part of the kingdom is Curaçao’s tourism main market and a substantial one for Aruba, but not so much in St. Maarten.
Nevertheless, the updated advisory from the Foreign Ministry in The Hague sends a message that the islands can be considered relatively COVID-19 safe destinations. This is especially welcome at a time when the world is re-opening and people want to go on vacation again.
In that sense, statements made by Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication (TEATT) Ludmila de Weever reported in the Friday/Saturday edition were encouraging. She said arrivals in week 18 of 2021 were the highest since the final week of December 2020, when the post-pandemic maximum was reached.
The minister also mentioned that room occupancy levels had gone up to 100 per cent, and although this may not be the general picture or only for short while, her optimism at least inspired hope for the immediate future. She spoke of an amazing summer, based primarily on the homeporting with Celebrity Cruises and increasing airlift particularly from the United States.
In the meantime, like it or not, more liquidity support and other financial assistance from the Netherlands will remain necessary to get though the coming period until the dominant hospitality sector can fully get back on its feet and generate the earnings and employment it used to before the coronavirus-related crisis. Also essential is the prompt – already late – reconstruction of Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA).
Those two things are of overriding national importance and certainly under the current dire circumstances must prevail over any individual interests, political or otherwise.
