Roy: SXM faces ‘crisis’ with
rising crime and falling airlift
~ ‘The golden goose’ could stop laying with negative image ~
PHILIPSBURG--St. Maarten is facing a crisis situation that forces the economy to deal with a steadily rising crime rate and escalating cost of fuel that is nearly crippling the airline industry and risks shattering the island’s tourist-driven economy, Tourism Commissioner Roy Marlin said Wednesday.
Calling the situation “worrisome,” Marlin warned that labels of being crime-prone and unsafe had ruined many Caribbean destinations in the past. He insisted there was need to press for permanent solutions to problems of criminality.
“The crime situation in St. Maarten has my concern,” Marlin told reporters at the weekly Executive Council press briefing, denouncing in particular crimes against visitors, who fill the island’s coffers with millions of dollars annually. “It is very worrisome to know that in St. Maarten we are going through a crisis that is being caused by rising fuel prices, airlines cutting back on fleets of airplanes and then when our visitors are here they are confronted by violent crime.”
Marlin said the situation felt hopeless without the necessary manpower and equipment to fight crime adequately, and called on Antillean Justice Minister David Dick to pay particular attention to the island’s concerns and to act.
“We should not take what is going on SXM lightly,” Marlin said. “We have seen Caribbean destinations where the crime has gone out of hand.”
The after-effect of rising crime rates and a negative label, Marlin warned, would be a concerted campaign aimed at reversing this image and attracting visitors, which could end up costing the island greatly. “When you as a destination get labelled as being an unsafe tourist destination, it takes one to label you as such, but it takes years and years and years of convincing … to turn around that image,” Marlin said.
Fearing the worst, Marlin said the island’s economy would suffer almost irreparable harm, with guests ceasing to visit, leaving residents and businesses with no choice but to pull out. “The goose that lays the golden eggs will stop, and at the moment that happens we might as well all close up shop and forget about it.”
Already, some foreign business owners in St. Maarten are murmuring about leaving the island following a recent series of thefts and other crimes. The most frequent crimes, burglaries and armed robberies, have reached about two dozen each month since March.
