Regional health authority ARS in Guadeloupe is finalising a cooperation agreement with the Dutch side’s Collective Preventive Services (CPS) and Public Health Service (see related story) to jointly reduce the risk of another COVID-19 outbreak and tackle any new cases. This regards a matter of great importance, because St. Maarten/St. Martin is very much one island, as all the inconvenience of the recent borders closure once again demonstrated.
Just when they were reopened, the 14-day quarantine requirement within the French West Indies was lifted. This means travellers from Guadeloupe and Martinique can easily land at Grand Case Airport and enter the Dutch side by car without quarantining.
However, the same thing is bound to happen the other way around when Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA) reopens to flights from St. Eustatius, Saba and St. Barths, to be followed by the so-called ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao). The main issue will be coordinating traffic out of Europe and North America along with applicable conditions for such.
People who come from France to St. Martin via the other islands must now quarantine, but there is growing opposition to this rule within the local hospitality sector. Once it is dropped, access to both sides of the island for the travellers in question will be automatic.
There is already demand for the destination in the Netherlands and France, but also from the US and Canada. Going forward, it will be all about how and under what circumstances visitors are permitted.
Protecting the people’s health as best possible is essential, but the same may be said for quickly restoring the tourism economy that provides their livelihood. Precautions and safeguards yes, but reasonable ones that still allow vacationers to be treated as guests.
