Dear Editor,
Many islands in the Caribbean wish to enjoy the economic benefits of the yachting industry. Many are already doing this but the benefits are distributed unevenly. Every island wants to be the “capital of yachting” in the Caribbean but there is no clear winner yet but there are going to be winners and losers.
Firstly, we are talking about the “yachting industry”. Here in St. Maarten it is often referred to as the marine industry and I submit that this distorts the focus. Yachting is about pleasure boats exclusively. Marine is everything that floats or accommodates anything that floats and includes cargo and cruise ships. Here we hold the logic that because it floats it fits together with other industries where things float as well.
When it comes to regulation and development you need to select targets where the entities within the target behave in the same fashion which therefore facilitates regulation and facilitation. Yachts, cruise ships and cargo ships do not behave in the same manner. It makes no sense for them to be regulated or promoted by the same entities. Also, yachting tourists do not behave in the same manner as stay-over tourists. To be effective and cost effective the public sector entities that regulate or promote yachting should be only focusing on yachting and not be unproductively bundled with incompatible activities.
There are some territories that are fantastic yachting destinations but have great difficulty in extracting revenue. These are destinations that have great anchoring bays and beaches but they do not receive much financial benefit out of these natural assets. St. Maarten is the exact opposite in that Dutch St. Maarten has a poor offering in respect of tranquil anchoring bays but gets to enjoy substantial business as the yachts replenish, repair and connect. St. Maarten and French St. Martin have done well in this regard.
Unfortunately, Dutch St. Maarten has limited its revenues by imposing fees, are not transparent and incentivize yachts to visit St. Martin to a greater degree. Given that no island charges for anchoring, including St. Martin, it appears that we have given up a great deal of business in return for a revenue stream that cannot be known by the public and their impact on traffic is not measured.
The strong revenue streams that are enjoyed are:
Infrastructure rental (dockage)
Repair and replenishment activities
General hospitality spending
The repair and replenishment activity would appear to the main economic driver in our tiny niche, and the more successful they are the more income from other sources. The success of these activities depends on a range of details that are poorly studied and understood by decision-makers. In 2004 the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean did a study measuring economic impact. The recommendations never led to a plan of action to optimize the industry.
The industry is difficult to understand and assess; a problem that occurs in all islands. The complexity originates from the large range of differences within the market and behaviors of the customers. This should not put us off, but rather points to using advisors with insight to wade through the complexity. And then we need policy-making that is based on the actual industry and not based on a pretense that it operates in the same manner as stay-over tourism, cruise ship tourism or cargo handling. It does not.
Let’s do that and St. Maarten will move forward for the benefit of all.
Robbie Ferron
