Sint Maarten Hospitality and Trade Association (SHTA) and Carib Beer recently started their yearly Event Calendar Campaign – the goal of the calendar being to show the island’s rebound from the disastrous 2017hurricane season and that it once again has much to offer in terms of its tourism product.
The official start of the campaign was marked by handing over the first editions of the 2019 National Event Calendars to Tourism Minister Stuart Johnson and First Vice President of the Collectivity of Saint Martin Valerie Damaseau recently at the Dutch Vakantiebeurs – the Netherlands’ largest holiday fair, taking place annually in Utrecht.
Since the start of last week, the calendar has been actively distributed by many channels – both physically in poster format, and digitally – to partners and representatives of St. Maarten abroad. The tourist offices of both sides of the island had a joint booth, which showcased the island’s tourism product to the fair’s many holiday enthusiasts. The fair attracts over 105,000 visitors.
The creation of this year’s calendar was actively assisted by both tourism offices. As the calendar’s main supporter, Carib Beer will disperse many calendars through its own partnerships. After the official launch by both ministers, the calendar was spread to members and partners of the island, domestic and foreign. In addition to international websites and representatives placing the calendar on their websites and channelling the island’s events through Facebook, this year’s edition is placed in SHTA’s 2019 in-room VISIT magazine.
As with its previous editions, the Event Calendar will be provided to SHTA members, as well as interested individuals, for spreading the word of the many events on offer in 2019. As has been the case with the last Event Calendars, the artwork was designed by local artist Loic Bryan. Special attention is given to the design in order to have the calendar be a true business card for the island’s business community. Both local and domestic users have requested the calendar as a successor to their 2018 edition.
Next to commercial events by SHTA members, the calendar tries to support events and fundraisers of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) supporting society and culture. In coordination with St. Maarten Carnival Development Foundation (SCDF), the many events of the special 50th edition of Carnival 2019 received special attention.
All events will be placed and updated regularly at shta.com/events and can be downloaded entirely at shta.com/events2019. The previous calendars have been downloaded well over 1,000 times from countries in the Caribbean, Europe and North and South America.
Anyone interested in having a calendar for personal use, or have an event they would like to post in next year’s edition, can request a copy by contacting +1 (721) 542-0108 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
