PHILIPSBURG--St. Maarten appears to be slowly weaning itself from heavy dependence on tourism.
The Central Bank of Curaçao and St. Maarten stated in its Annual Report 2014 that the country's dependence on direct tourism income had dropped from 79 per cent in 2000 to 73 per cent in 2014.
The six per cent decline was noticed in the contributions made to the country's foreign exchange income over the years.
"Other services," covering real estate income and tourism related businesses, have almost doubled in income generation in the past 14 years. The segment grew from seven per cent in 2000 to 13 per cent in 2014.
Making a contribution in 2014 where there was none almost 14 years ago is fuel bunkering. Bunkering accounted for one per cent of the country's foreign exchange income.
Merchandise contribution to foreign exchange income has dropped to nine per cent from 10 per cent in 2000.
Income from international financial services has declined by half. It stood at two per cent in 2000 and was down to just one per cent of the foreign exchange income in 2014.
Contributions from the transportation sector have stayed at a constant two per cent for the past 14 years.
The tourism sector, in general, has continued to grow since 2010, tallying NAf. 1.6 billion in 2014. The income for 2013 stood at NAf. 1.5 billion.
Curaçao, the sister Dutch Caribbean country with which St. Maarten shares a monetary union, registered only NAf. 1.1 billion income from tourism in 2014 and NAf. 1.04 billion the year before.
