TORONTO — For St. Martin, the year 2024 will be a wet one.
Not in terms of weather, of course. The French-speaking side of Saint-Martin/Sint Maarten is known for its year-round tropical climate and 37 glorious beaches, one for every square mile it spans.
Rather, St. Martin will be focusing its promotional efforts next year on the ocean and water activities, of which the island offers in abundance. Part of a multi-year campaign based on the destination’s key pillars, 2024’s ‘The Year of the Ocean’ comes on the heels of 2023’s ‘The Year of Events,’ 2022’s ‘The Year of Gastronomy’ and 2021’s ‘The Year of Romance,’ all designed to showcase St. Martin’s top offerings.
Speaking with Travelweek, Valérie Damaseau, President of the St. Martin Tourist Office says ‘The Year of the Ocean’ campaign will highlight St. Martin’s longstanding reputation as a yachting destination (the famed Heineken Regatta, now in its 44th year, made its triumphant return in 2023), as well as its wide array of water-based activities, from jet skiing and paddle boarding, to flyboarding, scuba diving at nearby Saba Island and day boating.
“At any given time, you can do day trips around the island or to our neighbouring islands. It takes only about 20-25 minutes to get to Anguilla, and 45 minutes to an hour to St. Barts,” says Damaseau. “And let’s not forget about whale watching, which runs from February to April.”
As for cruising, while the Dutch-side of Sint Maarten in the south welcomes the majority of cruisers (more than a million each year prior to the pandemic, and currently sitting at about 900,000 in 2023), St. Martin is home to a small port that’s able to welcome smaller cruise lines like French-owned PONANT.
But according to Damaseau, even if St. Martin had a deep-water port that could accommodate ocean liners, it wouldn’t much change things for the destination.
“That’s not the clientele that we’re targeting. We are not based on mass tourism at all, we have more of a boutique, high-end standard, which is suited to smaller lines like PONANT,” says Damaseau.
She’s quick to add, however, that “high-end” doesn’t necessarily mean “luxury.” Describing it as one notch below luxury, Damaseau says that St. Martin makes the conscious choice of marketing itself as just short of an ultra-luxe destination to broaden its appeal to potential visitors.
“Our neighbouring islands such as St. Barts and even Anguilla have big brand name hotels that give them that one-up, that added ‘plus,’” says Damaseau, adding that St. Martin’s villa product is on the rise. “In St. Martin, when we say ‘high-end’ in terms of the type of hotels that we have, we’re talking about more boutique hotels with just 10-40 rooms. In fact, the biggest resort we have is Secrets St. Martin, with no more than 250 rooms.”
New high-end hotels that have made their way to St. Martin’s shores include the 220-room Le Beach Hôtel, which will be renamed upon opening in late 2024, and Le Martin Boutique Hôtel, which opened earlier this year. Other available properties include La Samanna, A Belmond Hotel, Le Temps des Cerises, and Karibuni Boutique Hotel, all of which Damaseau says position St. Martin as a high-end destination.
Rounding out the high-end experience on the island are 350-plus restaurants (“Another reason why we’re known as a culinary capital,” says Damaseau), historical tours to St. Martin’s capital of Marigot, and a wide array of authentic experiences, including a visit to a perfume shop to make your own scent, rum tasting in a rum cellar, and ziplining, hiking and swimming at Loterie Farm, one of St. Martin’s top attractions.
“We promote the island as à la carte. Whether you’re coming alone or if you’re on your honeymoon, or want to get married or are visiting with family, everything from car rentals to accommodations to activities can be tailor made to you,” says Damaseau.
Heading into the all-important winter season, Damaseau has only one message for travel advisors: St. Martin is the place to be.
“The hospitality is there, the warmness is there, the diversity is there – you have more than 120 nationalities in the destination,” she says. “I’m here to tell you that French St. Martin is back up and running and has more than everything you need in a destination.”
Flights to St. Martin are currently available with all four of Canada’s major airlines – Air Canada, WestJet, Transat and Sunwing.
For more information on travel to St. Martin go to https://www.st-martin.org/us/.
