HAVANA, Cuba–The lifting of the embargo on Cuba should not be seen as a threat to the Caribbean tourism product, but as a chance at new opportunities and increased regional cooperation and integration, Prime Minister William Marlin told fellow Caribbean heads, including Cuba President Raoul Castro Ruz, in the recent summit of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) held on Cuba.
Marlin, in his address at the ACS session, also cited the Caribbean’s resilience after the 2008 global financial crisis.
“Following the 2008 financial crisis, Caribbean countries have, to some extent, been able to reprioritize and rebuild their economies, a true testament to our resilience. Despite its negative associations, the financial crisis gave impetus for our realization of strength in numbers,” he said. “This collective strength and resiliency is arguably more necessary today given the increasingly transnational nature of the challenges being faced by the countries in our region.”
Tourism, one of the focus areas of ACS, remains beyond measure the single most important, and in some cases, only economic pillar for many in our unique region, Marlin said. “As a successful veteran, St. Maarten has watched as the industry has transformed and redefined itself over time,” he said. “We praise the Association’s role in catalysing innovative approaches to not only keep relevant our destinations, but give more ownership to local stakeholders through its promotion of Multi-Destination Tourism.”
In light of the International Decade for People of African Descent, Marlin said, “I am happy that we have acknowledged this history, paying homage to those whose sacrifices have built this: our Caribbean. Rooted in this common history and looking forward and embracing what makes each country special, St. Maarten believes that together we can create a unique tourism product in our region.”
He added: “Our ability to make such an initiative successful lies in our ability to sustainably manage our natural resources, taking into consideration our rich biodiversity and the associated effects of climate change.”
To that end, efforts to ensure cleaner, more sustainable sources of energy are not only prudent environmentally, but financially as well, he said. The countries in the region cannot do this alone and as such he said St. Maarten praises the important work done by the Association in the field of natural disaster mitigation, taking into account the principles of the Sendai declaration.
Source: Daily Herald
William: Lifting Cuba embargo not a threat
Wow ignorance is bliss I guess.
Living in your luxury ivory tower and absolutely unable to see what is happening to the rest of the country.
Wait till September, we voting all you old time politicians OUT for GOOD!!
Can’t wait! 🙂 🙂
Are you kidding me William?!!! Can you please specify what Multi Destination packages SXM has at this moment??? I will answer it for you: ZERO!! So please get your head out of sand and face reality: SXM is in a downward spiral:
1. Investors are pulling away (Disney cruise lines went to Tortola, RCL Hotel at the Harbour has stalled, Sunwing not getting their 450 room hotel at Indigo etc etc).
2. No meaningful and recurring Marketing campaigns being done to promote SXM in our key markets.
3. No structural development of other source markets (Europe/ Latin America / Regional), all is ad hoc depending on the whims of incompetent succesive Ministers of Tourism
4. Tax climate in SXM killing local businesses thus no or very little jobs are created to combat rising unemployment.
5. Despite the above, Government apparatus is increasing every year and the tax payer has to foot this every growing bill.
6. Competitive position of SXM has been decreasing to a point where businesses are relocating their operations elsewhere.
All this will get worse when the Cuba train will gain real steam and our visitors will divert to Cuba which is already being felt now. It will only get worse.
So Wake up William!!
As SXM Talka stated in their previous post which I fully agree with: Get the SXM Tourism Authority (STA) running ASAP and have them develop a Master Plan for the next 5-10 years and stick to it!
We will only get through this with out of the box thinking and putting our heads together!
Let’s make SXM Great Again!! (as Ronald Reagan, and shamelessly copied by The Donald, once said about the States).
You left out.
7. sustainable resources and energy. Besides a lot of talk absolutely nothing has been done, to the contrary, all that hot air probably led to some additional global warming. People that invest in solar are given new meters so they can’t sell back to the grid. Our energy policy’s extremely low target for renewable energy has not even been met.
But maybe he’s right, maybe Cuba isn’t really a threat to SXM compared to say…. OUR POLITICIANS.