Arnell: ‘We need to reduce labour cost in hotel sector’
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 Read more
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