Any doubt that St. Maarten’s hospitality industry has fully recovered from both Hurricane Irma and the COVID-19 pandemic was laid to rest by 2025 air- and cruise arrival figures (see related story) from the Department of Statistics. Comparisons are difficult because the term “stay-over visitors” is no longer used.
Now all incoming travellers (including transfers) at Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA) are counted. Some use it as a hub to reach nearby islands and the French side.
But last year’s 855,994 air arrivals clearly surpassed those of pre-Irma 2016, the highest so far on record with less than 600,000. One can also see how seasonal the local product is from the shares for Quarter 1 (30%), Quarter 2 (24.5%), Quarter 3 (19.7%) and Quarter 4 (25.7%).
North America continues to be the dominant source market, recording a combined total of 541,615 air arrivals, representing approximately 63.3% of the total in 2025. The United States (US) alone accounted for 462,038 passengers, representing 53.9% of the total.
The European Union (EU) recorded 221,179 air arrivals, representing approximately 25.8% of the total. France emerged as the leading source country with 87,952 or 39.8% of the EU market and 10.3% of the total.
Notably, the Netherlands followed closely with 85,741 passengers, representing approximately 38.8% of the EU market and 10.0% of total arrivals. This, despite the impression often created that most Dutch holidaymakers prefer the ABC islands.
The Caribbean generated 43,986 air passengers, representing approximately 5.1% of the total, while Central- and South America region accounted for 25,484 arrivals, representing approximately 3.0% of the total. The “Rest of the World” recorded a total of 15,730 air arrivals, representing approximately 1.8% of the total.
What these numbers show is that the destination has a reasonable spread in terms of source markets, which can be essential when crises affect certain regions and decrease the flow of guests from there. Recent attacks by the US and Israel on Iran as well as the latter’s counterstrikes in the Middle East may also impact travel by especially Americans, although this area is thankfully far way from the war zone.
It should nevertheless serve as reminder to keep working on further developing alternative markets, particularly considering the potential of Latin America and a need to reduce seasonality. Diversification within tourism.
