Tourism growth expected to continue for St Maarten in 2004

Friday, January 30, 2004

GREAT BAY, St. Maarten (GIS): Commissioner responsible for Tourism and Economic Affairs Theo Heyliger, says he expects international tourism growth to continue in 2004 and supports the analysis by the World Tourism Organization (WTO).

"The forecasts are generally optimistic and based essentially on positive signs of recovery in the economies of the U.S., Japan and Western Europe.

"For St. Maarten, the 2003-2004 seasons so far have been good. This could be gauged from the number of private jets and mega-yachts that have visited the island, an increase in air-arrivals and cruise passengers, and occupancy levels at hotels," Commissioner Heyliger told the Government Information Service (GIS) on Thursday.

The WTO World Tourism Barometer show the number of international arrivals slid by 1.2 percent to 694 million, some 8.5 million less than in 2002. The years 2001 to 2003, have been described by international tourism authorities as difficult years, however, the number of international tourist arrivals had still managed to show an overall increase of seven million.

The three negative factors in 2003 that depressed world travel were the Iraq war, SARS and a persistently weak global economy. 

The Americas recorded a decrease of 1 percent, with North America the only sub-region to record a loss of 5 percent for the third year in a row. The Caribbean saw an 8 percent increase in tourism.

Commissioner Heyliger added that three United Nations organizations in their joint report released recently, "World Economic Situation and Prospects 2004," gives an upbeat assessment of the global economy, and that the global recovery is being driven by the U.S. economy.

Latin American and Caribbean nations posted a modest 1.5 percent economic growth in 2003. The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), predicts a 3.5 percent growth for the region in 2004.

"All in all, the aforementioned barring any major international events or regional natural disasters, we can look forward towards economic growth which in turn results in investor confidence and investments being made in our economic development," Commissioner Heyliger said on Thursday.  

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