Island represented at Seatrade Cruise Global

French St. Martin Vice President Valerie Damaseau and Dutch St. Maarten’s Acting Minister of Tourism and Economic Affairs Cornelius de Weever at the Port St. Maarten booth, Seatrade Cruise Global Conference.

PHILIPSBURG–Acting Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transportation and Telecommunications (TEATT) Cornelius de Weever, who returned recently after leading a delegation to Seatrade Cruise Global Conference, said on Sunday that there is still a great demand for the destination, and representing the country at the leading annual global business-to-business event for the cruise industry had been a success.

Seatrade Cruise Global was held at the Broward County Convention Center in Florida March 5-8, and De Weever led a delegation that included representatives of Port St. Maarten, the St. Maarten Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Princess Juliana International Airport, and the St. Maarten Tourist Bureau.

Seatrade Cruise Global is held in partnership with Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) and the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA).

“I would like to firstly congratulate Port St. Maarten management and staff with respect to the booth that they had set up for the conference. A job well done, as it encapsulated what the destination has to offer cruise visitors in connection with our recurring theme of ‘re-discovering’ the island in a post-Hurricane Irma era,” De Weever said.

“The destination has the opportunity to develop best practices from lessons learned with the passing of Irma. As we re-invent ourselves for others to re-discover, there is great demand for the destination as pointed out at the conference.

“We learned from the cruise lines that six months after the storms, passenger satisfaction ratings are soaring and destination St. Maarten was among destinations singled out where guest ratings are higher than they were prior to the storms.

“I would also like to thank Port St. Maarten management and staff for their post-storm destination marketing that has led to the successful return of our cruise partners.”

St. Martin’s Vice President Valerie Damaseau was also present at Seatrade Cruise Global as part of the “one-island destination” promotion that was signed off in February in a cooperation memorandum of understanding to promote the island.

Cruise industry executives, experts and thought-makers from the world’s largest cruise companies were the highlight of the conference as they gave insight into the latest cruise trends and developments.

Seatrade Cruise Global brought together buyers and suppliers for the four-day conference and three-day exhibition. The conference in 2017 saw more than 11,000 registered attendees, more than 700 exhibiting companies from 113 countries and some 300 international journalists.

Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/74540-island-represented-at-seatrade-cruise-global

LEAVE A REPLY