The St. Maarten Carnival Development Foundation (SCDF) over the weekend thanked Minister of Economic Affairs Franklin Meyers for staying true to his commitment to support Carnival by means of an increase in subsidy specifically for marketing St. Maarten’s largest annual festival.
During the final debate on the 2012 budget, the Minister came up with a solution to assist the Pony League and Little League through the tourism budget, thereby staving off a motion by the DP Parliamentary group to cut Carnival’s subsidy to give to the aforementioned groups. There were also intentions to cut the subsidy of the Heineken Regatta.
Meyers made the commitment in 2011 to increase the subsidies and Carnival and the regatta from NAf 180,000 per year to NAf 500,000. The SCDF and St. Maarten Tourism Bureau immediately went to work in drafting a marketing plan for Carnival that would focus on marketing initiatives before, during and after Carnival. The intention is to promote Carnival year-round locally, regionally and international. As such, the funds were earmarked and any cut would leave the SCDF in a complicated position.
Instead of cutting the subsidy, the Minister made a counter-proposal to the DP’s Motion to assist the Pony and Little Leagues through other means, leaving the Carnival budget as is. "The Minister has been extremely cooperative with us this year and stayed true to his commitment," the SCDF said.
"He understands the economic generator Carnival can be when marketed properly and made an important investment and necessary investment in Carnival. Annually we do what we can with what we have to push Carnival, but now the Minister has given us the means to do more. The SCDF has been seeking this type of assistance for years from government and this Minister finally stepped up. We will continue to work closely with the tourist office and the Minister to achieve our goals for the overall benefit of St. Maarten," the SCDF said.