The country enjoyed a long weekend, with many off Good Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Easter Monday. People from abroad are often puzzled about the seemingly great number of holidays.
After all, three more are coming up with King’s Day (Jouvert Morning) on Monday, April 27, the Grand Parade on Thursday, April 30 and Labour Day (Lighted Parade) on Friday, May 1. The latter two create another long weekend and some might wonder how anything gets done this month, or if the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) doesn’t suffer too much.
First, not everyone stops working on each of those dates. In fact, the only mandatory shop closure was Good Friday. Even then, many exemptions including for resorts and bars/restaurants exist, so employees of businesses involved were on duty, be it with extra pay.
Second, festivities also result in economic gains as confirmed by St. Maarten Carnival Development Foundation (SCDF) in today’s newspaper. They note a high hotel occupancy during the season of revelry especially in the Philipsburg area, with properties either sold-out or above 90% full.
As stated in this column before, these kinds of activities, including the Heineken Regatta and SXM Music Festival, attract more visitors than may generally be realised. They thus provide an important boost to the island’s dominant hospitality sector.
But it’s true that Dutch side residents like holidays and will be looking forward to the remaining six ones this year, namely Thursday, May 14 (Ascension Day), Wednesday, July 1 (Emancipation Day), Monday, October 12 (Constitution Day), Wednesday, November 11 (St. Martin’s Day), Friday, December 25 (Christmas Day) and Saturday, December 26 (Boxing Day).
Not only that, but locals love to mark traditions from elsewhere, such as Valentine’s Day and Thanksgiving as well. To a certain extent, celebrating life actually keeps them sane and productive.
