Port St. Maarten has been in some hot water during recent times, with its indirect involvement in several criminal investigations and court cases, the suspension and prosecution of former CEO Mark Mingo, a narrowly averted civil inquiry petition and the botched Zebec deal that cost the government-owned company US $10 million. Add to that the impact of Hurricane Irma on infrastructure, operations as well as business earnings and one can imagine under what pressure management and employees have been working.
All this makes today’s report that cruise tourism is 15 per cent over projections for the first half of 2018 (see related story) even more impressive. Expectations are for the next high season to reach pre-Irma levels.
Needless to say, this is very important for the hard-hit local economy, especially with many damaged resorts still closed. The announcement that Belmond La Samanna will reopen on December 10 is therefore most welcome, also because of the high-end market it attracts to the island.
Of course, stayover tourism to a large extent depends on connectivity and the state of Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA). The latter’s half-page “Invitation to Express Interest” advertisement in the Wednesday paper was thus quite interesting.
It regards the “Temporary Operations Project” to build facilities for temporary operations on the ground floor of the existing terminal. These are to include a ticketing lobby, security screening checkpoint, emigration checkpoint, concessions shell, immigration checkpoint and customs facility, numerous walls to channel passengers, etc.
No term for the job was mentioned, but the application submission deadline is July 9, indicating some urgency. Wishful thinking perhaps, but wouldn’t it be nice if this meant having the former building at least partially in service again much sooner than up to now foreseen?
