Philipsburg—The St. Maarten Tourism Bureau (STB) and the St. Maarten Hotel and Trade Association (SHTA) has distributed a Hurricane Manual to all accommodation properties in preparation for the Hurricane Season 2019 and future Seasons.
The jointly created manual outlines the roles of public and private sectors in the event of a Hurricane and provides a step-by-step guideline what actions collectively need to be taken from 72 hours before to 72 hours after a hurricane strikes.
The manual outlines communication practices, pre-event visitor assessments, visitor security, logistical operations for repatriation, and other components.
The Manual has been updated based on bottle necks that arose during a Hurricane Forum organized by STB & SHTA, back in June 29th, 2018.
During which stakeholders such as, accommodation properties, sea & air ports, transportation companies, and other tourism related entities, were brought to the table to discuss the challenges they faced, before, during and after Hurricane Irma.
One major factor that was brought to attention was the disconnect between public and private sectors and their respective roles and responsibilities, and the lack of communication.
With the goal of learning from past behavior, potential solutions were brainstormed and presented.
The result of that contributed greatly to the completion of the updated Hurricane Manual.
St. Maarten Tourism Bureau falls under Ministry of TEATT within the ESF 10 structure.
Hoteliers, marinas and other interested companies can download the hurricane manual can be downloaded at http://shta.com/hurricane-manual/
