Being a country surrounded by water and with limited space and means to set up large production lines, we are heavily relying on our ports of entry and departure. Everything and everybody is entering Sint Maarten/Saint Martin via air or sea.
From any angle that you look at it, it is needed that our ports (air and sea) meet the economic demands and that they create possibilities for economic growth. The ports will be the first thing visitors to our island see, the ports are needed to transport our own people, the ports are needed to import (and hopefully someday export) goods, the ports are being used as a hub for people, the ports are being used for distribution to other islands within the region etcetera.
The marine industry and its spin-offs account for roughly 12.5% of our economy. The many visitors reaching our shores via boat or yacht need food, transportation, will frequent our restaurants/bars/casino's, need to have (small and large) repairs done to their boats and yachts etcetera. Tourists want to enjoy the beauty of our waters by going out on sailing trips, fishing trips, (scuba) dive trips, visit our marine park etcetera. Looking at the mentioned examples, the marine industry impacts not only our tourism sector, but basically impacts any sector imaginable on this island.
It is of high importance that Sint Maarten remains a favorable tourist destination and that our sea ports remain favorable destinations or that we can even manage to increase our marine industry to a next level. Legislation, pricing, taxing, marketing and so forth need to be in place. The Heineken Regatta is a great example that positively impacts our marine industry and its spin-offs. However, to make full use of the potential of the marine industry we need to empower residents to become owner of a (small) business in the marine sector and that residents of Sint Maarten are being trained and equipped to function on the labour market in that specific segment of our economy.
The main reasons why we need to make use of our own human resources in the marine industry are quite simple: job creation and preventing money leaving our island. Less unemployment, money circulating in our country longer before it leaves the island and propelling other segments of our economy: marine industry, the glue in our economy. #sxmmovement
Soualiga Social Movement