There was some good news on the cruise tourism front this week, as Port St. Maarten announced it is preparing for MSC’s next generation of ships in 2020 (see Monday paper). Looking ahead is always important and necessary if the Harbour is to stay a top destination.
Notable was the discussion on enhancing shore excursions
where they offer multi-lingual guides. The significance of the latter should not be overlooked.
Although the main source market for the Dutch side’s hospitality sector has traditionally been North America, this is changing slowly but surely. While English remains the predominant language for international business, more will be needed to cater to an increasingly global client-base in the future.
Mind you, giving foreign languages a bigger role in education would seem logical anyhow because of the French side of the island. As the number of guests from non-English-speaking countries grows, so does the need for multi-lingual employees in the service industry.
The other obvious example is the “Pearl of China” megaproject at Belair. Considering the magnitude of this public-private partnership venture, it would indeed make sense for University of St. Martin (USM) to begin working on a course in Mandarin, China’s most commonly used language.
Those who are interested can in the meantime start practicing with “Ni Hao,” which means “hello” in Chinese.
