With all that’s been happening, the postponement of the St. Martin/St. Maarten Annual Regional Tradeshow (SMART) May 18-20 announced on page 8 of Saturday’s paper should not go unnoticed. This is even more the case because it
actually regards a cancellation, considering that the press release already talked about ensuring a successful and lucrative 2017 edition.
Co-organisers St. Maarten Hospitality and Trade Association (SHTA) and L’Association des Hoteliers de St. Martin (AHSM) gave as main reason logistical challenges; specifically timing conflicts that negatively affected registration numbers. No further explanation was provided, leaving one to wonder whether this could not have been foreseen, as most tourism-related events are scheduled well in advance.
Be that as it may, there is no reason for too much concern in terms of promoting the destination, because SMART is first and foremost a meeting place between the various hospitality industry players of the Northeast Caribbean area rather than a way to directly target their main source markets the US, Canada and Europe. However, having said that, the gathering was seen as being of major importance in the ongoing efforts to get a higher number of visitors from Latin America for example on Copa Airlines flights out of Panama and obviously also for the hub-function of Princess Juliana International Airport SXM.
So, while it’s not the end of the world by any means, the unwelcome news does raise questions about the future feasibility of SMART. Simply put, if there is a continued lack of interest it might not be worth the money that has to be spent as host.
What seems important at this point is to make sure potential benefits for the “Friendly Island” this year in terms of partnerships and other joint initiatives can still be obtained at the bilateral level or via different platforms. Other than that, using the bonus planning time as stated to revisit the show format and make innovations indeed seems like a sensible approach.
