The news coming out of Miami where Prime Minister William Marlin is attending the 18th annual International Shared Ownership Investment Conference has been pretty encouraging (see related stories). Interval said St. Maarten has the greatest new sales volumes of the region, due in part to more “mixed use development.”
Local resorts have been renovating and upgrading too, which obviously tends to improve the product. Timeshare reportedly accounts for 75 per cent of the Dutch side’s stay-over tourism, with 3,600 units compared to 1,500 hotel rooms, also due to higher occupancy rates and longer average stays.
Efforts to regulate the sector were welcomed, although the legislation for such is still pending. The latter clearly ought to be a priority of both the incoming Parliament and Government, to prevent more undesirable situations that could have a very negative impact on the reputation of not just properties involved but the entire island.
One aspect that needs to be considered as well is the so-called Airbnb phenomenon, whereby visitors can directly rent private homes or apartments for their vacations at a usually lower cost. Many holiday destinations have increasingly been faced with this “sharing economy” competition for their traditional hospitality industry that is often considered unfair because sufficient taxes aren’t paid, etc.
Countries and individual cities are therefore placing restrictions on the practice and taking measures to ensure compliance with fiscal and other laws. “The Friendly Island” should not waste another moment to seriously look into this matter on either side of the open border, before possibly irreparable damage is already done.
