Dear Editor,
There is no universal definition for luxury tourism. One person’s luxury is another’s ordinary.
Even if there was a definition of a tweet length, what purpose does it serve? Why hide behind academic fabricated definition that is no better than an astrological horoscope profile that one can read in a boulevard magazine. Everyone has his own perception what luxury tourism is, according to his own needs, desires or commercial interests. All the perceptions have wild variations.
The perspectives are also multi-layered. There is already a distinction between ultra-luxury and affordable luxury. For those who like the idea of developing luxury tourism for the benefit of a destination how about a straight talk three-word definition like “Big Spender Tourism?”
The first thing that may come to mind for the development of such tourism segment is five-star-plus hotels. I would consider such naive thinking. My primary thoughts would be about what this clientele is really looking for, how does it fit in their lifestyle, and what might meet their expectations.
Here are the ten things that they expect:
* Secluded pristine white sandy beachfront with crystal clear and turquoise waters.
* Lush tropical emerald greenery with palm trees and flower bursting landscaped gardens.
* Boutique properties styled after traditional island architecture.
* Harmonious sense of place that blends masterfully into the natural surroundings.
* Private utopia to unwind, lifetimes away from the hustle and bustle.
* Daily life adorned with elegance, intimacy and serenity.
* Savouring the spice-of-life in a heaven like paradise.
* Impeccable personalised, detail-oriented service delivered by a passionate team.
* Unmatched sophisticated amenities in style with contemporary comforts.
* Cultural authenticity and genuine conviviality of the Caribbean.
These are the development benchmarks that need to be considered. If one cannot meet eight of the ten on this list, the advice would be to try, try harder or start re-thinking. Mind that this listing nowhere includes the two words that you might have expected, “luxury” or even “hotel.” Commonly recognised as the Caribbean hub for exclusive guests like celebrities and tycoons, St. Barths apparently has twice as many villas that are rented out than it has hotel rooms.
The next thing that may come to mind as essential to develop this exclusive tourism segment is to have a big international airport to receive these guests; again, naive thinking. If we use a bit more class and elegance to replace the crude definition “Big Spender Tourism,” this category of people is usually known as high-net-worth-individuals (HNWI) and ultra-high-net-worth-individuals (UHNWI).
Most of these affluent persons arrive on private jets. Many of these jets only need a runway of about 5,000 feet/1500 metres even when they come from far-away. Some of the most beloved island destinations worldwide can only be reached via a hub airport. The one claim that can be made with high accuracy is that “Big Spenders” typically don’t arrive from abroad with cheap airlines or low-cost-carriers.
Surveys and research in the Caribbean have indicated that private flyers spend an average of US$ 69,000 on that destination. Furthermore, these visitors do have the means to invest in a destination, if they like the location. It underlines the thesis that depending on “headcount statistics” is one of the worst mistakes made in tourism development. How much each “head” actually spends is a better indicator for what concept should be advanced. To top it all off, HNWI are more loyal visitors to return to a particular destination and in many cases more than once per year. Destinations that offer more authenticity and are less commercialised are more to their liking. These people may not be considered vacationers anymore.
The multiple visits can make them integrated part-time members of the community and they may become valued friends. There is not only a positive economic impact coming from this visitor segment. It has a positive social impact also. The affluent individuals are usually successful individuals. The saying goes that success breeds success. It may be a bit of exaggeration but it could rub off on a community that has to adapt to the expectations and demands of their guests who are actually raising the bar.
The upscale guests who have personal preferences that combine enrichment, enjoyment, but also education, can encourage communities to maintain their culture and society. They appreciate access to the local people, places and experiences that represent all that is authentic about a destination.
Becoming more affected to a community and destination may result in an increased willingness to assist in improving the quality of life of the members of a community. These visitors, who often wish to immerse into local culture more than ever before, will protect the natural resources and the culture of a destination for future generations.
A fact is that on the international tourist market, there is one segment that keeps expanding regardless of any set-backs, be it recession, increased full prices, currency fluctuations; the upscale or luxury market remains on top like oil on water.
I’m not advocating that luxury tourism is something all could or should pursue. In cases where destinations put more emphasis on mass-tourism, it is hardly feasible because the two segments are like the oil of the affluent and the water of the masses, and they just don’t mix.
While others see the minimum standard of luxury tourism as the development of five-star hotels, I have tried to give you a different exclusive boutique perspective. You can believe and do what you want, but if all of the above is appealing for destination tourism development, the clear-text advice is “If you really want it, get your back up off the wall and get down it.”

Commander Bud Slabbaert,
Initiator and coordinator of the annual Caribbean Aviation Meetup conference

Dear Editor,
Nowadays, short of quarantining oneself completely, there is no escape from the news, particularly from reports of folks going back in the past, seemingly, in an effort to address and redress past and present ills. These reports and September’s back-to-school fast approaching may have stirred up old impressions and prompted this attempt to revisit the Sandy Ground of the mid 50s and early 60s, the Sandy Ground of my youth: the old Sandy Ground.

Dear Editor,

  I read Mr. Ferrier's letter to you concerning the homeless and immediately Statia came to mind. The first time I visited St. Eustatius, was in 1976 to assist our colleagues with the celebration of the Bicentennial. Since then after hurricane LUIS in 1995 I went to replace the post Commandant yearly when he went on vacation. The lay of the land intrigued me and I wondered why were we not getting any more Statia Yams. Then the thought came to me that this could be a solution to get the illegal drug addicts off the road and make them also productive at the same time.

  As the Dutchman would say: "twee vliegen in een klap." I am not a professional social worker and do not know exactly how it should be done, but my idea at that time was to gather those illegal drug addicts and have them plant food on a designated piece of land on Statia and house them and treat them there until they recovered. Yes, I am aware that 10-10-'10 is usually used as a scapegoat when we try to cross borders, but then why are we a part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands?

  Why is Mark Rutte the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and not only of Holland? If that is so, should not William Marlin use the title Chief Minister like is done in Anguilla which is also part of the (United Kingdom) Great Britain? And should we not stress on the word reciprocity?

  So yes I agree with Mr. Ferrier that we should have that conversation and with everybody who is willing to help. If there is a will there should be a way and that should be much cheaper than sending our sick to Columbia and Santo Domingo. I hope also that we reach much further than we have reached with our air traffic. I do not understand why, if there is an airline which belongs to the Kingdom (KLM) why we would have so much trouble travelling between the islands of the Kingdom? Not to mention the airfare. If we are part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and we have ships which travel all over the world (KNSM) why can't we have at least one ship travelling between the islands of the Kingdom?

  The Dutch are stressing on us about integrity, can I ask Mr. Bosman who always knows the answers when it comes to Kingdom relations, especially between Holland and the other islands, if this kind of behaviour of Holland falls under the heading of “lack of integrity?” Are we really willing to solve problems?

Russell A. Simmons

Dear Editor,

  If we follow the old wisdom of “the longer you live the more you learn” St. Maarten citizens would have to live for centuries as longevity may be the only real teacher of where our leaders are taking us. We have successfully muddied the waters to our convenience that it is practically impossible to trust powers constituting government in a democracy or a semblance thereof.

  Our “courts” once declared that in St. Maarten there is a problem with true justice and as the judge put it there is “class Justice”. The learned judge came to this conclusion for in a case before the bench concerning alleged vote buying he did not see what he considered the right people or person before him. The Prosecutor’s Office proclaimed to have started a civil investigation at the Port because of the cries of the people and questions posed in Parliament. Strangely enough they did not trust the audit chamber to do its job, so we use the penal institution to circumnavigate the normal order and later pursue and arrest people based on the information gathered.

  Of course, there are and have been cries in the community for time immemorial about illegal employment and short term contracts abuse, but we have not heard of the Prosecutor’s Office taking up this cause. I know we would hear that is not their duty, but if you can usurp the competence of any branch based of a less than truthful statement why stop there maybe you should also step in the boots of the legislature and the executive, for according to you and your European bosses you are doing it for the people.

  In accordance herewith we would expect to hear about a civil investigation into the three thousand plus illegals that are registered at the SZV, after all in today’s St. Maarten we need a pictured ID basically for everything from the maternity ward to the morgue. It would be interesting to know how the companies registered them and what ID they used.

  We are also concerned about the way raids by the uniformed services are carried out on the eastside and how they differ with raids over the hill (MAHO area). In like businesses, the proprietors on the eastside are charged with human trafficking, employment of illegals, and many more drummed-up charges and incarcerated. While over the hill the persons are simply turned over to the INS, no charges announced and no one arrested. And, if that is not bad enough we are also lectured on how terrible it is for tourism to apply the law equally on the entire island.

  We are reminded of one such raid at MAHO that resulted in an emergency meeting by the Council of Ministers and a temporary halt to raids in that area. We have waited but failed to see or hear of fines that are on the books being levied against these businesses that clearly operate outside the law employing illegals while denying our young people a chance to make an honest living. We hope that we can get some help in understanding whether this should be seen as class justice or racism, as all the businesses over the hill are owned mostly by them and on the eastside by people that look like me.

  Of course, when it comes to accountability we can ask our government but since the Justice Department is in the business of usurping competence as seen in their push for the exclusion of the court in the asset confiscation team they might also be able to speak for government. On this 37-square-mile-mosquito-ridden-sun-baked island it is hard sometime to be sure where to turn, on the 16 square miles under the red, white and blue banner it is even more complex and unknown. As a people it would be nice if we can lower our hands from over our heads in total despair and find some kind of hope in those in the halls of power.

  It has been long coming, I am sure two-thirds of the 15 parliamentarians will start to feel the pain and disgust of the people and do the right thing. After all in other times and places stranger things have happened.

Elton Jones