There is good as well as bad news today on the tourism front, and addressing the latter straightaway is usually best. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC placed St. Maarten in the top of its COVID-19 risk categories at level four, stating that anyone who must come here needs to be fully vaccinated. The country had already been an “avoid non-essential travel” territory at level three.
The change was based on infection figures in the past 28 days – more than 500 per 100,000 inhabitants. That may seem rather arbitrary, but is the criterion applied by CDC and says nothing about efforts on the island in terms of prevention, treatment, etc.
Some point out that the situation in many American states is even worse, but this regards purely an advisory for travel abroad. Nevertheless, the argument does put things in perspective because people from around the world have not stopped going to the US for the same reason either.
Of course, not everyone strictly heeds such warnings. Especially the destination’s many repeat guests can often make up their own minds about the situation based on local information.
Although urging all visitors to be fully vaccinated is probably not such a bad thing, realistically this downgrade to a classification as “very high” risk will undoubtedly have a discouraging effect. Thankfully, these advisories are frequently revised, so it is simply a matter of quickly improving the infection numbers by more persons getting vaccinated and sticking to the safety measures.
On the other hand, the long-awaited signing of a contract with Ballast Nedam to reconstruct the terminal building of Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA) damaged by the hurricanes of September 2017 inspires hope and confidence for the future. The project is to be completed in phases by July 2023, while certain renewed parts could be in use from December 2022.
That’s basically the next traditional high season after the upcoming winter, giving the hard-hit dominant hospitality industry at least something to look forward to.
