~ 250,610 already logged for January ~

PHILIPSBURG--January has been logged as a productive month for cruise arrivals, with 250,610 cruisers visiting the country – 14,337 more than projected for the month by St. Maarten Harbour Group of Companies.

Again this year, the harbour group is projecting the yearly arrival figure to be 1,607,056 million cruise passengers – the second time the country would have met and surpassed this milestone. That milestone was first met in 2011.

If January is any indication of the rest of the year, the cruise sector is poised to see more growth. Some 97 cruise calls were registered last month, compared with 85 in the same month last year.

As for growth compared with January 2011, last month saw a 15.3 per cent increase. The actual arrivals for January 2011 were 217,437 cruise passengers.

Projected cruise passenger arrivals for February are 228,981 and for March, 229,625. After those two months, the cruising begins to slide into its "low season" for the Caribbean, with April cruise arrivals projected at 174,616, May 68,961, June 61,917, July 58,642, August 68,286, September 61,264 and October 72,274.

Cruise arrivals are slated to pick up again in November (159,508) and December (186,710).

The harbour group of companies is seeking innovative ways of encouraging more cruise passengers to choose a cruise featuring St. Maarten and to continue to upgrade the destination's product by catering to the needs and desires of the cruise passengers.

Cruise passengers have indicated via satisfaction surveys that the country needs to highlight its Dutch heritage. This has led to the development of the Dutch Village entertainment centre set to come on stream in the near future.

To be built as part of the Dr. A.C. Wathey Cruise and Cargo Facilities, the village will fill a niche and hopefully encourage more cruise passengers to leave the ship while in port, said Harbour Group CEO Mark Mingo.