Cruise ships “Wonder of the Seas” and “Explorer of the Seas” docked at Port St. Maarten.
PHILIPSBURG--St. Maarten will see approximately one million cruise passengers visit and explore the “Friendly Island” during the six-month high season for cruise ships, starting November, Port St. Maarten Group (PSG) said on Wednesday.
Port St. Maarten management based its forecast on cruise line itineraries for the period November 2022 to April 2023.
Acting Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication (TEATT) Omar Ottley said: “It gives extreme pleasure to say we are back. While we may have an opportunity to reach or even surpass our pre-COVID numbers, we cannot become complacent. The goal is to constantly increase our tourism product until we are ranked the number one cruise destination.”
This season, Ottley said, “we plan to diversify our tourism product and focus on our cultural heritage. The theme should be what makes us unique. Once we are able to highlight what makes us unique it becomes our job to share that uniqueness with the rest of the world.”
The high season forecast arrivals are tied to the occupancy levels of cruise ships stabilising over the past months with consumer confidence and ratings higher than ever based on industry trends and developments.
PSG Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Alexander Gumbs said cruise lines are also experiencing higher passenger spending levels, which is ideal for the destination.
Gumbs said, “Based on the passenger arrival forecast, more than 133,000 visitors are expected in November 2022, 196,000 December 2022, and for the start of the new year, close to a quarter of a million passengers – 230,000 January 2023, followed by 157,000 February 2023, 159,000 March 2023 and 142,000 in April 2023.”
Looking at the calendar year 2023, the numbers are still a bit under pre-pandemic levels due to having a soft off season, Gumbs said. “The off season is a point of focus for our team, but limited options are available due to less ships being in the region during that period as they switch to other cruise line itineraries in the Mediterranean and Alaska.”
The effects of the pandemic and ships/equipment being sold will have an impact until more ships are deployed by the various cruise lines, he said. “The great news is that new-built ships are moving ahead, and several are being launched on an annual basis. The hopes are that in the coming year or two the Caribbean summer months will normalise once again to pre-pandemic levels.”
The Caribbean cruise market remains with the largest market share of cruise passengers, but other regions are becoming more popular and competitive.
“There’s work for us to do to continue to differentiate our offerings and services from the other destinations in the Caribbean,” Gumbs said. “We are also reliant on those destinations to continue to enhance their offerings as well, as an itinerary is ideally based on a few great destinations and not just one.”
With one million cruise visitors forecast for the next six months, other than transit calls the island will now have seven cruise line brands homeport from Port St. Maarten this season, the most to date.
“I would like to thank the PSG team as well as stakeholders and the cruise industry partners for working diligently over the past months, as we are now set to see the fruits of our labour come to fruition,” Gumbs said.
He added that besides cruise industry product differentiation, more focus and emphasis is being placed on environment, social and governance (ESG) as cruise lines scramble to reduce their carbon footprint.
“Strategically, PSG is also working towards ESG and how best we, along with our local and international partners, can facilitate with further reducing carbon emissions,” Gumbs said. “This is the future of cruising and we have to be ready, as this will be included in the decision-making process in creating itineraries of the future by the industry.”
