Enough is enough
SHTA president Emil Lee in his speech at yesterday’s general membership meeting confirmed a disturbing trend. While St. Maarten’s occupancy figures are going back up, average room rates remain down, by some 30 per cent compared to the 1980s. Of course, a lot has changed since then. Not only has the island been hit by several hurricanes and the effects of 9/11, but its main focus has changed from the high end market to mass tourism.
There are several reasons for that, not least the consequences of particularly Hurricane Luis, which knocked out both Mullet Bay and Dawn Beach resorts, two of the island’s prime hotel properties at the time. But a perhaps even bigger factor was the lack of a clear policy, which allowed, for example, the number of timeshare units, vacation homes and rentals on the Dutch side to surpass by far the number of still available hotel rooms.
As pointed out before, there is in itself nothing wrong with being a “timeshare island,” as St. Maarten has clearly become. But one cannot deny that an increasing number of visitors returning as timeshare rather than hotel guests will drive down room rates in the long run, while the timeshare rates too are affected by the increased competition.
Again, timeshare has undoubtedly proven its value to the island, especially right after disasters such as hurricanes or 9/11, when its guests are usually much quicker to return than regular hotel guests, because of the commitment they have. But by allowing virtually unrestricted growth in the sector, St. Maarten has changed its focus considerably compared to the early days of the tourism boom.
To a certain extent it was unavoidable. The market was there, the investments were made and the rest is history. But, judging by the apparent lack of a comprehensive policy, there was never even an option to guide this development.
One can hardly doubt that St. Maarten’s image suffered greatly because of the island’s inability to deal effectively with particularly the stalemate at Mullet Bay, which next year will have been in ruins for an entire decade. That should not be allowed to happen.
A self-respecting society cannot permit this situation to continue. Local leaders who advise “forgetting about Mullet Bay because it will never be rebuilt” are ducking their responsibility. Mullet Bay belongs to St. Maarten and not the other way around.
It is time to do whatever it takes to seize the property, get rid of the ruins and make the area, with its exquisite beach and the only golf course on the island, available for a quality tourism development again. Enough is enough.
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