~ Meyers gives update on tourism initiatives ~
PHILIPSBURG--Minister of Tourism Franklin Meyers disclosed on Tuesday that St. Maarten will open two marketing facilities in the US market in 2012.
In discussing a range of tourism-related issues with The Daily Herald, the Minister said the first "St. Maarten Store" would be opened in New York in January 2012 and the other, slated for Florida, will open not long after that.
The Florida store will be located in Aventura or Sawgrass. The final location in the "Sunshine State" depends on upcoming meetings, discussions and site inspections.
The St. Maarten Tourist Bureau maintained an office in New York in the past, which served as an information portal for travel agents and consumers looking for information about St. Maarten, including brochure fulfilment and representation at trade shows nationwide.
That office has been closed for more than a year while the Tourist Bureau and its marketing firm Tambourine worked on a new modern concept to promote the destination in the US market.
At the centre of that concept is the opening of consumer-based store fronts ? not the customary office in a high rise building, but one at ground level, so that people walking down the street will be in contact with the brand of St. Maarten on a daily basis.
Establishing of the stores, similar to Apple iStores, is in keeping with St. Maarten's marketing strategy, which calls for a shift that departs from marketing with emphasis on tour operators and travel agents, who are becoming less and less important in the decision-making role for tourism and travel to the Caribbean, and going more directly to the consumer
The street level offices in New York and Florida conceptually will resemble small art galleries with a clean, simple environment, images of the island, a rack for showcasing hotel brochures, projected videos, and a space for interaction with St. Maarten's official Website.
Florida is an important market area for St. Maarten, considering strong trade activities and establishing a presence in the Southern US market.
Tourism Authority
Minister Meyers said tangible discussions on the long-awaited Tourism Authority also were underway, with the goal of having the Authority established in January 2012. He explained that meetings had taken place with "all partners" and a structure of seven persons/members to serve on the authority had been established.
Three members will be nominated by government, three will come from the private sector and those six will agree on a seventh. Government will appoint the Authority's director and chairperson.
Puerto Rico MOU
As for new airlift, the Minister said none was scheduled for the immediate future, but the pending MOU that would be signed between St. Maarten and San Juan would be beneficial in attracting European carriers like Air Berlin.
St. Maarten and Puerto Rico have been discussing the possibility of jointly accessing new air services from Europe, especially given the potential for a double stop due to some technical departure restrictions from Europe.
The MOU, in the short term, will cover the two islands pooling their resources to intensify air access development from various markets. It also will lead to promoting dual destination packages, for which a pilot project will be established using one or two properties from each island to spearhead the project.
Growth
Despite a decline in arrivals from North America, St. Maarten's main source market, Meyers said the situation was not alarming. Numbers have remained steady between 480,000 and 520,000 over the past five years, he explained.
"It still concerns me, however, because I always want to see more growth. Hopefully when we start to market more aggressively and put certain things in place, we will see some growth from that market," he said.
Hand-in-hand with these new marketing initiatives, Meyers continued, is providing the additional rooms through the attraction of boutique resorts. He said the plan still was to realise a few of these small-scale hotels over a four-year period, financed through St. Maarten's still-to-be-developed Development Bank.
Meyers said boutique hotels were attractive to European travellers, who tend to vacation longer than visitors from the US.
"As far as the economy goes, worldwide indicators show that we are now starting to stick our head above water, but as one economist put it, we still have to look out for the waves, since we are taking a mouthful of water every now and then," Meyers said.
"Realistically speaking, for St. Maarten I would tentatively project, based on all indicators, that we will remain stable, as we have been now, for the next two to three years before we see any real growth. But right now we have to prepare for that growth and make sure we are in a position to take advantage of it, which is exactly what we are doing."
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