by The Wayfinder The increased arrival numbers, be it cruise or air passengers, are unequivocally positive. But numbers of arrivals are a volume measurement, not a prosperity measurement. Turn the debate from tourism promotion into tourism economics. St. Maarten’s tourism promotion may need a serious review and re-evaluation, not because the existing strategy has failed, but because it has succeeded in a way that may now be creating the wrong incentives. The review is not an attack on tourism or cruise. It is the next stage of tourism maturity. The key question should no longer be: “How do we get…
Author: The Publisher
There comes a moment in every industry when the evidence becomes too overwhelming to ignore. For Caribbean cruise tourism, that moment has arrived. For years, governments across the region have celebrated ever-growing cruise arrival statistics. Every new record has been accompanied by press releases, ribbon cuttings, photo opportunities and declarations of another successful tourism season. Yet a very different conversation is now taking place among economists, hotel operators, tourism researchers and even long-time supporters of the cruise industry. Across the Caribbean, professionals are beginning to ask a question that should have been asked years ago: Who is really benefiting from…
By Terrance Rey Yesterday, I had the privilege and honour of sitting down with one of St. Maarten’s true political stalwarts from the era when Claude Wathey and the Democratic Party (DP) dominated the island’s political landscape. That political stalwart and legendary figure is none other than Leroy De Weever. Our conversation centered on his time working alongside Claude Wathey, particularly in light of the centennial celebrations marking what would have been Claude Wathey’s 100th birthday. At the young age of just 21, fresh out of college in France where he studied Economics, Leroy De Weever entered politics as the…
~ When the Ship Becomes the Destination ~ Dear Editor, I have seen the recently published triumphant statistics of Port St. Maarten regarding cruise arrivals. I am what one may call an insider. And I would like to use this opportunity to point to a more realistic picture of the situation. It is about a growing imbalance that should be taken seriously. Destinations are not parking lots for cruise ships. They are homes for people. Growth without local prosperity is only heavier traffic. The relationship between cruise lines and destinations have shifted over the past years. Cruise lines were once…
By: Clifford A E Illis Terrance Rey’s proposal in St. Maarten News—granting a three-year tax and administrative holiday for 100% locally owned startups—presents a logical economic strategy, its real-world implementation faces severe political and structural roadblocks on Sint Maarten. The primary obstacle is not economic theory, but the political economy of the island. A policy designed to nurture local, bottom-up enterprise directly conflicts with a entrenched political system built around top-down foreign capital, patronage, and rent-seeking. 1. The Asymmetry of Political Capital: Local Startups vs. Foreign Investors No Rent-Seeking Value in Micro-Enterprise: Local micro-entrepreneurs (bakers, tech developers, small consultants, artisans)…
PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – As the new school year approaches, many families across St. Maarten are preparing for more than just purchasing school supplies. Rising costs, academic expectations, children’s mental well-being and the growing influence of technology have added new challenges to an already demanding back-to-school season. The inaugural Back-to-School Expo, taking place on Sunday, August 9, at the Aleeze Convention Center, aims to help ease that burden by bringing together education professionals, healthcare providers, financial institutions, government agencies and community organizations under one roof. “Preparing children for school today goes far beyond buying notebooks and uniforms,” said Bertaux Fleming,…
By Cdr. Bud Slabbaert The pursuit of money and power is harmless until it becomes compulsive. It becomes dangerous the moment they stop being tools and start becoming narcotics. Then it behaves like any other addiction: it narrows the mind, corrodes the character, and blinds one to the very people one should care about, love, or need to lead. Money and power are not addictions in themselves. Rather, the relentless pursuit of them can become addiction-like when it becomes compulsive, increasingly difficult to control, and continues despite damaging one’s relationships, health, ethics, or overall well-being. While neither “money addiction” nor…
By Terrance Rey The St. Maarten Chamber of Commerce & Industry (COCI) deserves recognition for the overwhelming response to its Start Smart Pilot Project. The fact that 72 aspiring and existing entrepreneurs qualified for the program demonstrates something many of us have known for years: there is no shortage of entrepreneurial spirit on St. Maarten. Training in financial management, marketing, artificial intelligence, customer engagement and business development is an excellent start. Knowledge is one of the greatest investments we can make in our people. But if we are serious about creating an economic revival led by local entrepreneurs, then we…
by Kendall Dupersoy for on StMaartenNews.com If the first article examined the symptom—non-white peoples performing the choreography of white supremacy—this one examines the machinery. The World Cup has ended, and if my social media feeds are any indication, the global south was divided not merely by national loyalty but by something older and more insidious: the unspoken grading of human worth by melanin. Argentina’s Lionel Messi, feted by FIFA with a generosity that many found conspicuous, became a Rorschach test. But the discomfort ran deeper than refereeing decisions. It ran into history. Argentina carries a documented record of state-sponsored blanqueamiento—the…
by Kendall Dupersoy for on StMaartenNews.com If this World Cup has demonstrated anything, it is the enduring power of a lie: the lie that lighter skin confers superiority, and darker skin, inferiority. Across stadiums and screens, we have watched non-white people from every continent perform this script—mocking African players with monkey chants, celebrating European teams as though their own pale reflection might somehow share in the triumph. But the triumph is not shared. The chant reveals not confidence, but captivity. The indoctrination is astonishing in its reach. People whose ancestors were colonised, enslaved, and classified as subhuman now police the…
