GREAT BAY--As St. Maarten marks World Tourism Day 2026 under the theme “Digital Agenda and Artificial Intelligence to Redesign Tourism,” the St. Maarten Small Properties Association (SMSPA) is calling for a connected tourism technology vision that ensures the country’s full tourism product is represented as artificial intelligence increasingly influences how visitors choose destinations and plan their vacations.
“When artificial intelligence tells the story of St. Maarten to the world, it must tell the whole story,” said SMSPA President Nzinga Lake, who stressed that AI is no longer simply a technology conversation for tourism destinations.
“It is a destination conversation,” Lake said.
Artificial intelligence is increasingly changing the way travelers discover destinations, compare accommodations, create itineraries and decide where to eat, shop and explore. For St. Maarten, Lake said, that development raises an important question about what parts of the destination visitors will see when they rely on AI-powered platforms for travel recommendations.
“Tomorrow’s traveler may simply ask: ‘Plan my five-day vacation in St. Maarten.’ Within seconds, AI could influence where that visitor sleeps, eats, explores and spends. So what story will it tell about us?” Lake said.
“Will it know our hotels and resorts? Certainly. But will it know the boutique property tucked away in one of our neighborhoods? The family-owned restaurant visitors return to year after year? Our taxi operators, excursions, shops, artists, cultural experiences and entrepreneurs? Will it understand what makes St. Maarten St. Maarten?” she added.
SMSPA noted that several Caribbean destinations and regional tourism organizations are already moving toward practical applications of artificial intelligence.
Jamaica is incorporating AI into its tourism sector through a multilingual digital concierge and is developing a real-time tourism insights dashboard. The Caribbean Tourism Organization is using World Tourism Day 2026 to move the regional discussion from conversation to application through an AI Tourism Bootcamp, while the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association has advanced to version 3.0 of its AI Guidebook series, with a focus on practical implementation, workforce readiness and responsible adoption.
Curaçao is also developing a National AI Strategy.
“The Caribbean is not waiting for the AI transformation. It is beginning to shape it,” Lake said.
St. Maarten, however, is not starting from zero. According to information from the St. Maarten Tourism Bureau, Amazon Alexa devices supporting the St. Maarten Virtual Concierge platform have already been installed in more than 400 privately managed accommodations, including vacation rentals and Airbnb properties.
The technology provides visitors with destination information, including activities, restaurant recommendations and current events, while also offering a channel for important government information.
“That tells us something,” Lake said. “We are already using the technology. Now we have to connect the dots.”
SMSPA said the next step should not be an AI agenda designed for one category of accommodation or a digital strategy serving only one tourism sector. Instead, the association is advocating for a connected tourism technology vision that reflects how visitors actually experience St. Maarten.
A visitor may stay at a 15-room property, take a taxi across the island, eat at a locally owned restaurant, participate in an excursion, shop in Philipsburg and later have dinner at a major resort. From the visitor’s perspective, those experiences are not separate sectors, they are all part of the same destination.
“One destination. One tourism economy. One digital future,” Lake said.
For SMSPA, that future includes strengthening the digital visibility of tourism businesses, building AI and digital skills throughout the sector, connecting tourism data and using technology to improve the overall visitor experience.
Lake also stressed that smaller accommodation providers must be included in that transformation.
“The word ‘small’ proudly appears in our name. It describes the size and character of many of our properties. It does not describe our contribution, our ambition or our voice.”
At the same time, SMSPA cautioned that tourism’s increasing reliance on technology should not come at the expense of the human relationships that continue to distinguish St. Maarten as a destination.
“AI can tell our story. It cannot become our story,” Lake said.
Technology can recommend a hotel, build an itinerary, translate a message and analyze what visitors are looking for. What it cannot do, Lake said, is replace the human moments that often define a visitor’s experience.
It cannot welcome a returning guest by name, replace the local knowledge shared across a restaurant table or reproduce the spontaneous conversation that directs a visitor toward a place they may never have discovered online.
“Those moments are St. Maarten.”
SMSPA’s World Tourism Day message last year focused on the importance of human connection within tourism. Lake said this year’s message builds on that position: use technology to strengthen the connection.
“On behalf of the St. Maarten Small Properties Association, I wish everyone across St. Maarten and throughout our tourism community a Happy World Tourism Day, our residents, visitors, workers, businesses, entrepreneurs, government, tourism partners and every person who plays a part in the experience we call St. Maarten. Tourism touches all of us, and its future belongs to all of us,” Lake said.
“The future traveler may discover St. Maarten differently. But what they discover should still be unmistakably us. When artificial intelligence tells the story of St. Maarten to the world, it must tell the whole story.”
