Dear Editor,
When tourism first started in St. Maarten in the 60s, it led to many people learning the skills associated with hospitality at institutions like Mullet Bay. It is not unreasonable to conclude that many people learnt fast and that St. Maarten quickly became known for its ability to attract and provide service to guests.
Most guests were hotel guests and looked for good accommodation, good food and the welcoming and entertaining hospitality that St. Maarteners quickly became adept at.
Fast forward to the 1980s when a new type of guest also began to arrive. They came by yacht. They were also looking for services but only some of the services were the same as the regular hotel guest. Besides food and drink they also wanted their engines repaired, sails repaired, cushions recovered, their boats painted, dockage, hauling, anchoring, etc.
These were many more demands than those of hotel guests and some of the demands were and remain difficult and complicated.
This same scenario has repeated itself throughout the Caribbean. The demands were also relatively inconsistent and varied so that skills needed to be constantly adapted and often required efficient logistics and handling.
In short the yachting (or marine) industry presented to St. Maarten and other islands a diversification opportunity that was real and profitable but more complicated than regular stayover tourism.
Different territories in the Caribbean are grasping the opportunity differently and some enjoy particular advantages. Which territories will be baffled by the complexity and lose the opportunity and which territories will grasp it and benefit from the diversification possibility?
Robbie Ferron
