SXMElections.com

MARIGOT--President of the St. Martin Chamber of Commerce Jean Arnell disclosed he has asked the Minister of Overseas Territories George Pau-Langevin to look into creating a sector policy to reduce labour costs, specifically in the hotel sector.

"She is committed to it, together with the tourism minister," Arnell indicated. "For example the ratio of labour cost to sales in St. Martin is 48 per cent and in France it's 34 per cent. We're looking at reducing that ratio to make our hotels more competitive in this region where we are competing against other destinations that have a significant number of flights from the continental USA.

"That's where unqualified labourers registered at the unemployment office will find work when we build more hotel rooms, and around that more jobs will come from the related service sectors."

Arnell said it is essential to build more high-end hotel rooms for stay-over tourism and market the cruise ship companies more to capture a slice of the two million cruise ship passengers coming to the island.

"The economic impact of stay-over visitors is undeniable. Cruise passengers will spend US $179 to $229 on a one-day stopover, but stay over visitors, according to a 2007 Dutch-side survey, spend $127 a day, on an average five-day stay. We need to make sure they eat drink, shop on the French side regularly. It's already happening, but difficult to quantify as most of these visitors are residing on the Dutch side."

He was reluctant to say what impact the plan for a cruise ship pier in Marigot will have.

"The business model of that cruise terminal in terms of the size of the pier and how many passengers will disembark is not defined yet. I don't want to go there because without knowing what kind of ships you are going to have and how many passengers you will have on a regular basis, it's difficult to calculate the economic impact.

"Let's leverage the two million passengers already coming here first; market French St. Martin as a point of interest for shopping. If we do that we will get them directly. We are not getting enough of them presently. The Chamber and the merchants association are working on how we can get these passengers to stay longer in Marigot.

"The rejuvenation of Marigot is what we are looking for before the waterfront plan, that's what will make Marigot more appealing. One of the priorities is parking and implementing paid parking, and we need to make sure other districts are secure and more appealing to tourists."

He recalled that the boom created in the 1980s by defiscalisation saw hotel rooms increase to 5,000 by 1995, but dwindle to 1,500 after the ten-year tax exemption on that financial incentive to invest overseas ended.

"We didn't manage the exit clause properly on defiscalisation so from 2000 onwards there has been a decline on the French side, but mainly due to international and national factors – the euro was introduced, fuel prices went up etc. But having said that, today we have good quality hotel rooms, good restaurants and a territory that is attractive because it's different. The French Creole touch is what gives the contrast to the Dutch side.

"And the good news is that the US recovery is seeing a three per cent increase in gross domestic product (GDP) this year and the euro is weakening against the dollar, giving the American tourist more buying power."

Arnell noted the Chamber is advocating the liberation of land by exempting transfer and succession taxes and creating a zoning policy that will allow flexibility on building regulations.

On this point, modification to the Plan Local Urbanisme (PLU) is expected to be ready in March 2015, a point that Arnell says has held back a lot of development in St. Martin. It is thought that the delayed La Belle Creole hotel project is awaiting the new PLU.

He was also under no illusion that the French side needs to create more jobs at all levels, including at executive level.

"Public administration for example, where a lot of it is centralised in Guadeloupe, will progressively have offices here," he said. "The Chamber in particular is working with the social security healthcare offices in Guadeloupe to make sure they set up a branch in St. Martin to support our businesses."

Arnell could not say when he thought changes in Marigot would be noticeable.

"It depends on strong political will to get it (projects) done. It doesn't necessarily need public money; the private sector is ready to invest, but we need the public incentives to invest and that's the challenge. Those people that have opened shops invested private money with the HOPE Government will, from a public policy perspective, build new hotel rooms and promote St. Martin. The private sector expects government to keep the territory attractive, clean and secure. As long as that happens the private sector will continue to invest."

On a final note Arnell said he was convinced the French side will make a comeback. The evidence of a gradual increase in registration of businesses, opening of new shops and a reduction in closures supports this.