Could become Marriott resort GREAT BAY – While all the focus at this moment is on the investment project in Little Bay – a 326-room hotel and 450 apartments – Jeff Berger’s St. Maarten Weekly News reports movement in other areas on the hotel front: the possible demise of the Blue Mall and its conversion into a Marriott Hotel and changes at the Westin in Dawn Beach. Berger quotes “seasoned sources within the hospitality industry” who claim that Marriott will acquire the Blue Mall and turn it into a resort property. “We do not know whether Marriott is also talking…
Author: The Publisher
“Dispel the fear of growing up and become fully matured” GREAT BAY – The rate of change in the world today conceivably has never been faster. Many of the old systems applied to growth and development are rapidly changing into new forms too different to be fully understood, Leon Stubbs says in this article that reflects on Chinese investments in the Caribbean. It gives context to the proposed investment in the Pearl of China project in Little Bay. The old pattern of a few countries mining the rest of the world for raw materials and reseeding just enough with goods…
Dear Editor, What hypocrisy on our island St. Maarten. When the NA Government in 2010 mentioned the possibility of a 1 percent increase in the turnover tax there was a loud outcry. The SHTA, the Chamber of Commerce and the labor Unions were the loudest objectors to it. Some of the members of the aforementioned organizations even said, ‘over my dead body there will be no increase in the turnover tax.” It wasn’t a year later a government led by the UP increased the turnover tax by 2 percent. There was absolutely no outcry from the SHTA, the Chamber of…
GREAT BAY – According to the Quarterly Bulletin of the Centrale Bank van Curaçao en Sint Maarten, economic developments in the monetary union were uneven in the first quarter of 2016. Curaçao recorded a real GDP contraction, while Sint Maarten’s economy expanded in real terms. Real GDP contracted in the first quarter of 2016 by 0.2% in Curaçao, while the economy of Sint Maarten expanded by 0.4%. Meanwhile, the decline in international oil prices dampened inflationary pressures in both countries. Curaçao registered zero inflation, and Sint Maarten recorded deflation resulting in an average drop of 0.9% in consumer prices during…
GREAT BAY – For quite some time the Police Department has received numerous complaints from persons in the community and mainly from residents living on the A. Th. Illidge road in the section between the “Cottage Round About” and the entrance of Arch Road, also known as “The Strip”. The police have intervened in many of these complaints and taken measures closing these establishments down. This area where several popular night clubs, bars, other after hour’s businesses, supermarkets etcetera are located is also a residential area. The complaints the police department still regularly receives are concerning issues such as loud music,…
Dear Editor, Since 10-10-10 our “Country” has been plagued with all kinds of lawlessness. We have witnessed a spate of choke and rob, constant hold ups, break-ins, carjacking and the insane gun violence. We have heard time and time again of the plans of approach and the many options government is contemplating to address the scourge plaguing society. A gentleman once told me that the greatest threat to our economy and livelihood is not the risk of pricing ourselves out of the market but the sense of insecurity. People have a need to feel safe and when they don’t they…
Is St. Maarten on the right track or on the wrong track with the Pearl of China project? As we wrote earlier, we do not have sufficient information for a fact-based opinion. What we do have is a study by economist Arjen Alberts about tourism driven island-economies. We published stories about this study in January and February of this year. (Read one article here…) In a nutshell, Alberts’ argument goes like this; “We have focused too much on producing five roses and selling them for a dollar each, while we should focus on producing one rose and sell it for…
The St. Maarten Hospitality and Trade Association SHTA has sent a number of questions about the Pearl of China project to the Council of Ministers. Below is the unabridged text. Dear Honorable Council of Ministers, The St, Maarten Hospitality & Trade Association – SHTA, the largest private sector representative, has been closely following the media reports about the upcoming development of the Pearl of China/Caribbean. While the SHTA realizes that there could be a need for foreign Direct Investments and job creation, but lacking proper statistics there is no way to be sure. At this point we feel that we…
It is amazing how many people have opinions about the Pearl of China project while they have hardly any information to base it on. Today we present another array of these opinions, together with a more fact-based analysis from Leon Stubbs. We are of course not only in the peak of the hurricane season, we’re also in the peak of the elections season – with fifteen seats in parliament and seven power seats in the Council of Ministers up for grabs. That people lose track of reality under those circumstances is understandable, but it makes it difficult to understand all…
When political parties publish plans in their manifestos that they will impose a 10% property tax, they need to realize that a lot of people on St. Maarten are what is termed property-rich, but cash-flow poor. Even many apartment owners in St. Maarten seem to suffer from this description: property-rich but cash-poor. There may be many reasons for this. Poor financial planning, lack of any kind of budgeting or business planning, inadequate maintenance plans or lack of reservations for both expected and unexpected repairs are many of the factors that render a property owner property-rich, yet unable to generate any…
