Monday’s news about homeporting in St. Maarten was encouraging. Three of seven cruise ships that called on Saturday dis- and embarked passengers.
In addition, crew changes are on the rise, with a group of 50-plus flown in last week to board their vessel. These activities translate to additional time and money spent on the island by cruisers.
Port St. Maarten says statistics show 20 per cent of all cruise passengers flown into (and out of) the destination takes a pre- or post-vacation of about two days. This should normally enhance the chances of their return as guests for a longer period.
But perhaps most important is the emphasis on luxury cruise brands and visitors with higher disposable income levels. While those ships are usually not huge, they tend to be more exclusive and their presence allows the hospitality industry to shift a bit from quantity to quality tourism.
There are potential drawbacks such as traffic congestion primarily between Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA) and Philipsburg. Police have been known to lend a hand with motorcades for tour buses if urgently needed, for example, to catch a plane or ship, while transport by sea of travellers as well as luggage is always an option.
Taking in garbage from passenger vessels – whether home-porting or not – does contribute to the country’s trash problem, but under certain circumstances it can be a beneficial service for a premier cruise port. The amount is currently called negligible compared to what is generated locally and, in any case, the entire Dutch side’s waste processing system must obviously be enormously improved.
It must be pointed out in this regard that for the also-increased provisioning of cruise ships with dry and frozen goods, the packaging is disposed of by a third-party concessionaire working directly with the shipping lines. This business too brings economic activity to the island.
Port St. Maarten specifically mentioned efforts to establish US Customs pre-clearance at the airport as being a real plus for its plan. Such a facility is not part of the terminal reconstruction project for which a US $50 million grant from the Dutch-sponsored Trust Fund and a $50 million soft loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) are being made available.
Nevertheless, with the NAGICO insurance pay-out of close to $60 million it should be possible to make the necessary provisions to realise the pre-clearance sooner rather than later, so that better growth figures and greater prosperity may be achieved.
