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>PHILIPSBURG:---- CHTA President and St Maarten Hotelier, Emil Lee, recently spoke about the Economic Value of Tourism at the Statia Sustainable Conference held September 24 and 25, 2015 on the island of St Eustatius.

Lee spoke about the many changes that CHTA is undergoing and the new CHTA Hub and Spoke model where National Hotel and Tourism Associations or NHTA’s and Tourism professionals curate new ideas, best and worst practices Read more

Lee: Tourism’s Caribbean impact much greater than global figures

PHILIPSBURG--In an official World Tourism Day message by the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA), St. Maarten-based CHTA President Emil Lee stressed that tourism’s impact on the Caribbean is proportionally far greater than the 10 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) and six percent of exports cited by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), concerning global tourism contribution figures.

“Tourism continues to present the greatest opportunity for the countries throughout the Caribbean to create jobs, generate tax revenue, and spawn new locally-owned businesses,” Lee said.

His comments were underscored by UNWTO Secretary General Taleb Rifai, who stated that tourism has demonstrated its capacity to increase competitiveness, create job opportunities, stem the rural exodus, generate revenues and reinforce the sense of pride and self-esteem within communities.

The theme for World Tourism Day is “1 Billion Tourists, 1 Billion Opportunities.”

According to the UNWTO, today’s more than one billion annual tourists have made tourism a leading economic sector – contributing 10 percent of GDP and six percent of the world’s total exports.

Lee stressed that tourism’s impact on the Caribbean is proportionally far greater Read more

World Tourism Day Feature

Lee: Lack of consistency biggest bottleneck for St. Maarten tourism

The lack of consistency is one of the main issues plaguing St. Maarten’s tourism industry, says local hotelier and Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) president Emil Lee.

Lee, a former president of St. Maarten Hotel and Tourism Association (SHTA), told WEEKender that St Read more

Sarah: No 'earth-shattering' plans in governor's speech

PHILIPSBURG--There was "nothing earth-shattering" in Governor Eugene Holiday's speech about government's plans for the 2015-2016 parliamentary year, but it was heartening to see that the Marcel Gumbs Cabinet is "making use of the goodwill and leadership" created by the former government in the region and further afield, said Democratic Party (DP) leader Member of Parliament (MP) Sarah Wescot-Williams on Monday.

The former prime minister and her fraction's advisor Emil Lee called on government at their bi-weekly press briefing to continue with the National Development Plan (NDP) and were happy to note that government, based on the governor's speech, was still keeping the plan for which a lot of time and money has already been invested.

While the governor's speech was "short on specific," Wescot-Williams hopes to gain more insight into the plans for tax reform, when Finance Minister Martin Hassink is in Parliament this week to meet with Parliament's Permanent Committee for Finance.

DP has "ideas for changes" to the tax system, beginning with the often talked about simplification of the tax system, she said.

The party plans to put emphasis on an "economic reform agenda" that is necessary and that is needed to make tax reform workable.

Wescot-Williams expressed satisfaction that Parliament's Permanent Committee for Finance will finally handle the 2013 annual accounts of government-owned companies this week Read more

style="text-align: center;">Landfill and Harbor and Zebec meetings will not be held this week.

PHILIPSBURG:--- Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot Williams representing the Democratic Party faction in parliament told reporters during their bi-monthly press conference on Monday that they are pleased with the acknowledgement of the Governor who mentioned the progress the former government had with the OCTA regional meetings and the preparation on obtaining EU funding along with the French side Read more

Chta Holds Agm In Barbados

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - The Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) wrapped up their Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Barbados last week.

President Emil Lee told our news room that a number of issues affecting the industry were discussed including the mitigation of the Sargasso Sea Weed problem and the devastation to the tourism industry of Dominica Read more

Dp Wants Action With Timeshare Legislation

St. Maarten– The ministry of tourism and economic affairs is going back to the drawing board with timeshare legislation and that is not to the liking of the Democratic Party. DP-MP Sarah Wescot-Williams said yesterday that the party would take back its initiative legislation and go forward with it if there is no fast action forthcoming from the ministry.

Former DP-MP Leroy de Weever submitted draft timeshare legislation Read more

Sarah determined to get timeshare law moving

PHILIPSBURG--Too much time has been wasted on moving forward with the draft timeshare legislation while the country’s reputation has sustained damage. For those reasons, Democratic Party (DP) leader Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams is determined to see the draft initiative law to protect timeshare owners and buyers that her party proposed in the last parliamentary terms moving in full swing Read more

Where is the Timeshare legislation that would have helped prevent this disaster?

Dear Editor,

We celebrate the legal victory of the handful of timeshare tourists who were willing to organise against a well-funded and larger opponent, put up their own money, and fight for their rights to keep their timeshare weeks as purchased, but what we don’t see are the thousands of timeshare owners at the former Caravanserai who gave up and as a consequence signed away their rights. Sadly, the collateral damage to our tourism industry translates into a tainted reputation for St Maarten, lost jobs and lost contributions into St Maarten’s economy.

The draft legislation which would regulate the Timeshare industry and has been working its way through our Parliamentary system for many years is still not approved Read more

style="text-align: center;">DP Faction plans to take back draft timeshare legislation and move forward with them in Parliament.

PHILIPSBURG:--- The leader of the Democratic Party and Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot Williams told reporters on Tuesday that she has several concerns with the current government, one being the status of the Waste to Management Plant Read more