Today’s report that tourism exit surveys will be held at the country’s main gateways Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA) and Port St. Maarten is good news. Relevant data are obviously key to policymaking and developing strategies for a successful recovery of the dominant hospitality industry, on which practically everybody’s livelihood depends.
This is usually not exactly one of the destination’s strong points, because pertinent information such as room occupancy rates has not always been available on a consistent basis at least to the public in general. Granted, Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication (TEATT) Ludmila de Weever periodically announces primarily arrival numbers in press briefings or releases, but a bit more details would certainly be welcome.
The planned questionnaires in September and December will indicate trends over the three months in between as international travel rebounds from this unprecedented COVID-19 crisis. They should also provide an idea of changes in visitor behaviour after the pandemic, although it is arguably not over yet considering recent infection numbers both locally and abroad.
Hopefully it will be by the time the next traditional high season starts around Christmas, but that would require a greater degree of vaccination while continuing to wear face masks where appropriate, social distance and frequently sanitise hands. Minister of Public Health, Social Development and Labor VSA Omar Ottley (see related story) asked people who won’t get injected to regularly undergo safety testing to protect themselves and others even without symptoms.
For those who did their part by taking the two shots, but still can’t relax because herd immunity has not yet been achieved, the latter seems like a reasonable request.
