French side tourism office
pulling out of New York
~ Dutch side officials concerned ~
NEW YORK/ST. MARTIN--The St. Martin Tourism Office will not be renewing its present contract in New York where it shares an office with the Dutch side tourism office, according to a letter sent to tourism officials in New York and St. Maarten by President of the St. Martin Tourism Office Daniel Gibbs.
Gibbs told The Daily Herald he was not prepared to renew the contract without knowing what the new tourism budget from the Collectivité would be, and without knowing if he could pay for the New York office.
The decision puts the immediate future of at least two tourism staff working in New York on behalf of St. Martin in doubt.
“We don’t know if we have a budget to maintain the New York office and as long as the Collectivité does not have a budget we don’t know what we will have either,” Gibbs said. “I told Commissioner Marlin I can only make a decision on renewing the contract in March 2008 when I know the budget.”
Gibbs added he had also been pressured by the property owner in New York to give an answer on the contract or face eviction.
“We are being forced to come out of New York. I repeat I just don’t know if I will have sufficient budget to support an office that costs US $10,000 a month,” he said.
He added he was uncertain as to when exactly the office would have to be vacated, possibly as early as ten days time, but he would be bringing the New York employees back to St. Martin to work until further notice.
It was not clear if the financial burden of running the New York office would fall on the Dutch side office. Gibbs declined to say if St. Martin would be able to reoccupy the office once the budget is known in March.
Some tourism officials on the Dutch side expressed concern about the effect this development would have on the joint promotion of the island as one destination, considering joint cooperation in the New York office has been in existence for at least a decade, and hoped it was not indicative of a breakdown in cooperation.
Commissioner Roy Marlin, however, declined to comment on Gibbs’ letter.
“This is an internal matter and I cannot comment on his decision,” he said. “Everyone makes a decision for his own reasons.”
Asked if he was now concerned about the joint marketing of the island, Marlin said, “No, because we still do a number of joint efforts together. The Jet Blue deal is a recent example of us working together.”
But New York tourism representatives for St. Martin said they were disappointed by the decision.
“We went in as a joint effort, selling St. Maarten/St. Martin as one destination, but with this latest development it looks as though what was initially put in place, along with the advertising agency that was taken on to do all the media publicity for both sides, appears not to be the case any more after receipt of this letter,” said one staffer who wished to remain anonymous.
Aside from the New York issue, Gibbs has indicated that in keeping with the Collectivité’s policy to maximise human resources in the right areas, restructuring is also necessary.
A number of employees at the St. Martin Tourism Office in Marigot have already received notice that they will be transferred to other working positions in the Collectivité.
“It’s a question of reorganisation, and not firing,” he explained. “We are recalling those employees that were lent out by the Collectivité to other departments to re-evaluate our human resources which is normal. We need to know who is working where and what their strengths are and where they can be best employed.”
