Missed opportunity

Dear Editor,

“Some people never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity”, a statement well said by George Bernard Shaw so long ago but still rings true. Especially true concerning the event that took place in St. Maarten last Friday October 28, 2016, when the last KLM flight made its final landing our runways at Princess Juliana Airport. The very runway in which it accredits its fame to this big blue bird. It is undoubtedly a shame on our part for knowing of this potentially major event and taking no action to aid it into something greater than it was. Dutch media were present and ABC news covered the event. Imagine if we had more foresight and took advantage of capitalizing on this event taking it to a worldwide scale, reaching millions at no cost. It pains to see that we spend too many of our limited marketing dollars on activities that generate little to no marketing mileage but major events like this go by without any initiative or organized efforts to enhance and exploit them. If anything positive may be derived from the US Presidential campaign is how Mr. Trump mastered to generate millions of dollars in free media exposure.

Now we can only hope this missed opportunity may serve as a lesson or reminder to remain vigilant for any more potential viral moments that are sure to come. Moments that can promote St. Maarten to the world.

Ricardo Perez