St. Maarten Sees Strong Rebound in Tourist Arrivals

Travelers are returning to St. Maarten in strong numbers as the post-hurricane recovery continues.

From January to June, the destination welcomed 171,543 air arrivals, a 131% increase over the same period in 2018.

North America remained the strongest market, with 92,285 visitors from the U.S. and 15,683 from Canada. By contrast, the island received 177,589 visitors for all of 2018.

Hotel occupancy for the first six months of this year averaged 81.9% for Q1 and 71.4% for Q2. More than 65% of hotels and timeshares have reopened islandwide.

"These numbers highlight how much we have improved since Hurricane Irma," said Stuart Johnson, St. Maarten's minister of tourism, economic affairs, traffic and telecommunication.

Major U.S. carriers, including Delta, American, JetBlue, United and Spirit, have resumed regular service, and Princess Juliana airport expects to be fully operational by the first quarter of 2020.

Source: Travel Weekly