The number of cruise passengers on the island in the last few days has been quite encouraging. Regaining St. Maarten’s top spot in the Caribbean regarding this part of the hospitality sector will take a bit of time and lots of work, but – there is no reason to doubt – can be done.
That’s also very important for stayover tourism. With most major resorts down for at least a year, stimulating future interest in a vacation on the island could prove essential to reviving the industry.
So-called “cruise conversion” to attract ships’ passengers back as stayover guests is a good way to do that, as the recent past has already shown. Once they return, these persons often turn into repeat visitors.
One way the cruise experience can be enhanced is by finally doing something about the pedestrian route between the harbour and Philipsburg. While there is a walkway partially separated from the busy road by a guardrail, the situation is far from ideal.
Container trucks still drive up and down to the cargo facility and a current underground cabling project near the entrance to the terminal has made the street relatively narrow. In addition, sections of the footpath still flood when it rains.
For decades there have been plans to create a shoreline connection straight from the port past Dock Maarten, Chesterfield’s and Bobby’s Marina to the start of Boardwalk Boulevard at Greenhouse. This would make the trip much safer and nicer too, with views of Great Bay and yachts located there.
It’s no secret that some of the parties involved have been at odds, even ending up in court. However, considering the uphill battle faced to secure the residents’ livelihood, perhaps they could put aside their differences and “smoke the proverbial peace pipe” to – possibly with use of Dutch reconstruction funds – make this project happen in the general interest.
