The St. Maarten Tourism Bureau (STB) announced a positive result of the joint Expedia marketing campaigns with its French-side counterpart (see Monday paper). The ongoing one that started last November is said to have totalled a gross booking revenue of close to US $1 million and produced 2,000 room nights so far.
One would always like to see some promotional funds directly spent locally, but in the end it’s all about “bang for the buck.” As pointed out, by now most travellers turn to online platforms to plan and purchase their trips.
With 33,879 stayover arrivals in December the destination finished last year strong at an increase of 151 per cent over the same month in 2020. Despite a still-makeshift Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA) under reconstruction, keeping these numbers up is vital to the country’s socioeconomic recovery from the COVID-19 crisis.
People should keep in mind that much of the resorts’ inventory lost after Hurricane Irma is meanwhile restored and several developments have been completed in the visitor accommodations sector. Additional “heads in beds” are thus needed to pay for the related investments and jobs, it’s as simple as that.
Whether through a long-discussed autonomous St. Maarten Tourism Authority (STA) or not, more advertising and selling the island abroad seems like a no-brainer at this point. According to Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication (TEATT) Roger Lawrence during the 2022 budget debate in Parliament, it shows “an increase fairly across the board with marketing initiatives.”
Hopefully that statement will prove to have some meat on it, because the difference substantial efforts in this regard can make was already demonstrated, for example, with the post-Hurricane Lenny marketing funds.
Sometimes one must spend a bit to earn a lot.
