Lots and lots of cruise ships

St.Maartens’s most important if not only source of income is Tourism.
The island receives a large amount of tourists by plane, cruise ships, yachts and boats each year. The biggest mass of tourists that visit the island travel by cruise ships. Late last year the world’s largest cruise liner, The Oasis of the seas docked on St. Maarten for the first time, and will continue to do so once a week for the rest of the season. Chief Operating Officer of the St. Maarten Harbor Group of Companies Keith Franka stated on Wednesday January 6th 2010 that it was an historic day for St. Maarten and the harbor, because of the fact that over sixteen thousand tourists made their way off six cruise ships on Wednesday at the St. Maarten port. It was the first time that the two cruise piers of the harbor were fully occupied by cruise ships. This was a very successful day for all the stores in town. St.Maarten is becoming more and more popular through all the cruises that dock on our island. Through all the tourists that visit our island on these cruises we get a lot of mouth-to-mouth advertising. It can be expected that Wednesday’s conditions will repeat itself at least four times for the remainder of the year. St. Maarten is continuously improving the harbor facilities which were completely renovated to receive the amount of cruise passengers it does per day a few years prior. Water taxies and busses are then provided to these tourists to carry them to the town, beaches and/or French side to shop, eat and just relax on the island. Promotion is also being done in all travel magazines and brochures and at cruise ship travel agencies in order to attract more tourists to the island.