St. Maarten tourism officials shun CTO meeting

Wednesday, October 15, 2003

PHILIPSBURG, St. Marteen: The Caribbean Tourism Conference, which opens in the U.S. Virgin Islands on Thursday will not see any top level representation from St. Maarten. The Daily Herald reports that both Tourism Commissioner, Mr. Theo Heyliger and Tourist Bureau Head, Ms. Regina Labega, will shun the conference and instead send two student representatives.

The students who will be representing St. Maarten are Ms. Shevonne Richardson of Methodist Agogic Center and Mr. Joseph Doran of St. Maarten Academy. They will be accompanied by Nzinga Lake of the Tourist Bureau. 

The meeting is expected to address a number of important issues, including the proposed controversial head tax of US $20 per cruise passenger. 

The Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA) has hit at the proposal, saying it's absurd. Mr. Nicky Arison, chairman of the 11-member association, cautioned that it would be nearly impossible to introduce a new tax and undo all agreements that had been signed with the individual destinations. 

"Tourism officials should be thinking about increasing revenues and promoting investments. By considering new taxes you don't promote investments. Then you do the exact opposite," he said last week during the Association's annual meeting held at Maho Beach Resort. 

He said the islands should rather be talking about decreasing the current tax levied on the airlines and hotels.  

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