When the President of the Dutch St. Maarten Taxi Association describes the island’s traffic situation as “disastrous” and “crippling” to tourism, it should not be dismissed as industry rhetoric. It should be read as a warning signal. Maya Friday’s account of cruise passengers refusing to leave their ships, requesting refunds, or missing flights and sailings because of gridlock is not just bad publicity, it is evidence that the island’s mobility crisis is now undermining its core economic engine.
Tourism depends on movement. Visitors come to experience beaches, shops, restaurants and excursions, but none of that is possible if roads are locked in near-permanent congestion. In areas such as Simpson Bay, Cole Bay and Point Blanche, traffic is no longer a temporary inconvenience. It has become structural and it is getting worse.
The recent front-page photograph of long ATV convoys threading through Point Blanche captures one of the less-discussed contributors to this crisis: the rapid expansion of roadway-based tourism. Tour buses, off-road jeep convoys, bicycle tours and ATV groups are increasingly competing for limited road space on infrastructure not designed to function as a moving attraction. In the case of ATVs, groups of up to 20 machines often travel in tight formations, deliberately slowing or blocking traffic to keep tours together. What looks like adventure to visitors feels like obstruction to residents and other road users.
The consequences go well beyond irritation. Friday’s testimony makes clear that drivers are now avoiding entire areas during peak hours, leaving visitors stranded and residents cut off from their own neighbourhoods. Cruise guests are being rushed back to ships early. Some are requesting refunds. Others are choosing not to disembark at all. Each of those decisions represents lost income for taxi drivers, vendors, restaurants and tour operators, and lost confidence in St. Maarten as a destination.
Public safety is also being stretched. Reports of ATV accidents, including a recent incident on Cake House Road where riders were thrown into cacti and cusha bush, highlight the danger of mixing inexperienced tourists, powerful machines and congested public roads. These incidents are often barely recorded, yet each one disrupts traffic and pulls emergency services into an already strained system.
This is no longer a niche issue. It is a national one. If St. Maarten wants to protect its tourism industry, it must urgently regulate how tourism uses its roads. Mobility, safety and quality of life are not optional extras. They are the foundation of a functioning, credible destination.
