It was nice to get some good news regarding Dutch visitors (see Tuesday edition), although figures shared by the St. Maarten Tourism Bureau (STB) weren’t very detailed. They reported 34,522 stay-over arrivals from the Netherlands in 2024, consistent year-over-year growth and an increase of 6.6% to 17%.
This is largely attributed to targetted promotional activities including a joint campaign with travel company TUI, one of the largest sellers of vacation packages to the island in the Benelux (Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxemburg) region. This reportedly produced direct results that impacted both winter and summer bookings.
The latter is particularly relevant, because getting through the – usually slower – next few months is crucial to the dominant hospitality industry and consequently the entire community. KLM increasing its flights from Schiphol to Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA) from three to five times per week starting in June indicates the potential of the so-called Mid-Atlantic route for the coming period.
Together with practically daily service with Air France from Paris, this provides the destination with ample airlift from Wester Europe during the summer and it’s important to make the best possible use of such. While no mention was made of this option, it would be great if TUI could offer own flights as it does to the so-called ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao), also to provide some welcome plane ticket price competition.
For now, especially considering the current uncertainty regarding traditional holiday travel from the US, efforts to attract more business from Europe but also Latin America and Canada should not only continue unabated but be intensified where possible.
