The Sint Maarten Tourist Bureau has embarked upon a new marketing initiative to further improve upon 2010 tourism figures which resulted in a 7.9 per cent increase in arrival numbers for the first quarter of 2010 and an overall 2.1 per cent increase in visitor numbers for the first six months of the year.
The bureau recently completed a series of marketing strategy sessions which should lead to more visitors coming to the island in the high season.
Other Caribbean nations are not sitting by and are also in the forefront of attracting more visitors to their shores. The Cayman Islands Tourism Advisory Council reports that the winter season is looking pretty good in terms of bookings. The General Manager of Carlisle Bay in Antigua reports that bookings are double the pace of last winter, reflecting a high season trend seen at many Caribbean properties.
According to the Barbados Central Bank Governor, the tourism industry should pick up in the final quarter of this year with construction also playing an important supporting role for the economy. So far for the year, the Barbados economy has contracted 0.5 per cent while the island’s tourist arrivals have increased three per cent between January and September when compared to the previous year.
A drop in visitor spending has been and remains still a major challenge for the tourist industry in the region. The reduced spending by tourists is a reflection of caution due to the uncertainty about the world economy and this is impacting regional tourism businesses.
The prognosis is that recovery in the international economy is driven mainly by the performances of emerging market countries such as China, India and Brazil, and growth in the countries where the Caribbean sells its tourism remains weak and uncertain. Some economists say that the U.S. economic downturn is part of a seven-year cycle, of which almost three years have passed with four more to go.
A survey of airlines during the third quarter of 2010 indicates that confidence is high in the industry. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), 77 per cent of those who responded had reported improvements in profit during the second quarter of 2010, which was based on stronger revenues and tighter control of costs. IATA adds that demand and revenue are both still growing in terms of passenger traffic, but at a slower rate than the initial rebound at the start of 2010.
Nations around the globe are reviewing economic policy after the financial crisis of 2008-2009. The idea that competitive markets are sufficient to ensure efficient outcomes and stable economies is under heavy fire. The crisis has prompted a fundamental re-think of the relationship between markets and governments. There seems to be a re-think between the political economy and models of governance. President of France Sarkozy said, "Laissez faire is finished," and attention should be focused on the model stakeholder capitalism and social consensus.
Today, the discussions continue about the balance between markets and government; what is the role of governments in promoting economic growth? What can governments do to seize the opportunities of globalization while minimizing its downsides? The global economic crisis has revealed a number of significant imperfections along with the limitations of governments.
Our new country is also at the cross roads and in the midst of the prolonged global crisis. While the big countries have no clarity on the way forward, Sint Maarten as an island nation has to look outside the box. Stakeholders need to come together to chart our way forward under our new constitutional structure.
We need to set up an economic early warning system which would allow us to mitigate the impact in the event of a major economic crisis. Some island nations within the region have had the experience where it took more than a year after the onset of the global crisis to put a stabilization package and mitigating strategies into place.
Each country will have to find its own balance between markets and government. The balance between markets and government may have to be reviewed continually, adapting to circumstance and context. Our approach as a country to policymaking will have to be based on pragmatism and the willingness to adapt to the local context best practices from around the world.
Roddy Heyliger