PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transportation, and Telecommunication (TEATT), Honorable Stuart Johnson, met with key stakeholders on Wednesday august 14th at Sheer Restaurant for a destination Marketing strategy meeting that was organized by the St. Maarten Tourism Bureau Marketing and Product Development team.
The
interactive whole day session was to share and actively discuss St.
Maarten’s Marketing and product development strategies and to conduct an
exercise with the stakeholders for an open dialogue on how to work
collectively to ensure increase in the visitors’ arrivals and to assure
them a memorable experience with the overall product.
“The
goal of the meeting was to identify areas where collaboration is needed
between our private sector partners in the hospitality industry and the
government of St. Maarten through the Ministry of TEATT,” said
Johnson.
He
said, “Through the efforts from his office over the past year, there
have been improvements in the arrival numbers, but the reality is that
we are still in need of returning to pre-Irma numbers.” Johnson
said collaborating on brand recognition for the destination as well as
creating exciting offers for visitors when they come to the island will
go a long way in improving the overall product offer to the travelling
world. “There is no time to waste as we are in competition with other
Caribbean destinations for visitor arrivals and we must rely on experts
who have in the past proven to be pioneers in creating the value within
our market that attracted visitors for so many years. “But we cannot
forget to enlist the ideas of the younger people, especially considering
the increased use of technology and social media in particular to
generate attention and market destinations,” said Johnson.
The
discussions included the review of recent data collected, the current
visitors’ profile, targeted markets, the market current trends, and the
way moving forward in our marketing efforts and the destination branding
to assure a sustainable tourism product. An outline of the tourism and
environmental awareness programs were shared and discussions were held
on other product development topics.
“Public
Private Partnership (PPP) is key to our destination success, with
industry partners that are result driven, and who we have constant
communication with to assure we are aligned and work towards a strong
tourism product”. Says Director of Tourism May-Ling Chun.
Present
was the cabinet and staff Bureau of the Ministry of TEATT, Small
Properties Association, St. Maarten Hospitality and Trade Association,
the St. Maarten Time Share Association, Chamber of Commerce, local
social media influencers, St. Maarten Marine and Trade Association,
United Tour Operators Foundation, The SXM Airport, Port of St. Maarten,
and The STB Marketing and Product Development team.
