Promising
St. Maarten is the location for several international conferences and meetings these days. The Toastmasters 10th district conference with more than 150 participants took place over the weekend, while the Caribbean Executive Shipping Conference with 144 and the National Association of Black-Owned Broadcasters (NABOB) spring meeting with about 100 are currently taking place.
The St. Maarten/St. Martin Annual Regional Tradeshow with some 148 participants kicks off tonight. It will be followed Wednesday by the housing conference between the Netherlands, the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba with a considerable attendance expected as well.
It’s obvious that the presence of so many guests from abroad provides an important impulse for the island’s tourism economy. Particularly the Maho Group will benefit, as Sonesta Maho Beach Resort is the location of the first four gatherings mentioned, while the housing conference is taking place at Sonesta Great Bay Beach Hotel of the same group.
For the hotels involved the business is no doubt most welcome at the start of the slow season. While time-share resorts tend to maintain reasonable occupancy rates year-round, it is more difficult for hotels because of the nature of the business.
But it’s not just the hotels. The presence of so many people creates business for many, including restaurants and bars, taxi drivers, car rental agencies, stores and the like.
The so-called “incentive market” focussing on group travel and international gatherings has grown in importance. Especially during the low season, it offers good prospects for a relatively popular destination like “The Friendly Island” to generate some extra business.
More often than not it is past experience that to a large extent determines whether such gatherings will return to the island, and St. Maarten/St. Martin seems to be doing pretty well in that respect. Positive “word of mouth” promotion can also help attract other groups to the island.
So it is important to treat the guests, as is of course the case with all visitors, in such a manner that their experience is a positive one. If that can be achieved, this growing market appears to hold good promise for the island.
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