US $100,000 given to
ArkeFly for marketing
PHILIPSBURG--The Dutch and French sides of the island have made an initial joint marketing investment of US $100,000 in ArkeFly, a Netherlands-based airline that will operate a weekly direct charter flight from Amsterdam to St. Maarten starting on Sunday, December 2.
Head of the Economic Recovery Fund (ERF)/St. Maarten Tourist Bureau Director Regina LaBega told The Daily Herald the two sides of the island were sharing the marketing cost equally to help stimulate interest in the flight.
The Dutch side’s share of the funds is derived from ERF coffers, which are fed by the one guilder cent gasoline tax that is collected for every litre of gasoline sold on the Dutch side.
ArkeFly is expected to link the island with Amsterdam weekly year-round. The joint ArkeFly/island marketing blitz will include newspaper advertising in the major Dutch newspapers, travel and in-flight magazines, Internet promotions and direct mail to travel agents.
A familiarisation trip for Dutch journalists and travel agents during the last week of November is also part of the marketing effort. There will also be a promotion in the Amsterdam arena.
“We are very excited to have ArkeFly. It gives us a further push in the Dutch market. Hopefully, this will help to drive down prices [for tickets] offered by other carriers to the Netherlands,” Labega said.
The flight also comes at the time when the euro is very high, making the efforts to attract Dutch tourists here more lucrative, she added.
Tourism Commission Roy Marlin also met with the airline representatives in the Netherlands recently.
The flight will be operated with a 272-seat Boeing 767 aircraft. The flight route is Amsterdam-St. Maarten-Curaçao-Amsterdam.
ArkeFly vacation packages start at 699 euros and include round-trip airfare, accommodation at a selection of hotels on the Dutch and French sides, and a range of amenities. The flight details and packages are advertised in the company’s magazine Holland International winter edition that was released last week. For more information visit
www.tui.nl.
