SXMElections.com

PHILIPSBURG--The St. Maarten Tourism Authority (STA) Foundation has been declared obsolete. Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication (TEATT) Claret Connor now says the STA will be established without the intermediary foundation due to stagnation in progress caused by delays and lack of common vision on how to move forward.

Minister Connor reacted on Monday to requests for comment in light of last week Friday’s front page story describing the foundation as being in limbo. When The Daily Herald contacted the Supervisory Council on Monday, it was apparent that the Council had not been informed of the decision to side-step the foundation.

The STA now will be established through a committee that is yet to be appointed. If this newspaper understands the statement correctly, vetting for the candidates started on May 15, but the vetting statement also could have been in reference to the needed foundation positions, given the timeline. This could not be ascertained by press time.

The original plan, as laid out by the previous TEATT ministry, had been to form the STA Foundation, which needed a number of members appointed in different positions through both the private and public sectors, and for the rules and procedures to be determined to establish its functioning. The foundation then eventually would become an independent governing body (or “Zelfstandig Bestuursorgaan” ZBO) by national ordinance as quickly as possible.

Friday’s news was based on a media statement by the three remaining representatives of the STA Foundation’s Supervisory Council, which intended to inform the public, amidst criticism of the destination’s lack of marketing, that “the STA has yet to be activated,” that it was “without a Board, any employees, director and zero funds” and that there were two Supervisory Council vacancies to be filled, dependent on government action.

Minister Connor said the first meeting with the foundation had been in the week of February 23 and the ministry had submitted the Minister’s vision to the foundation on March 2, as promised.

However, “No input was received and in the week of May 4 a subsequent meeting was scheduled to prompt the STA Foundation to cooperate with moving forward. We then discovered that the STA Foundation had some inner shifts and the document submitted was not circulated among the members, [this being the – Ed.] reason why they had not responded.

“In granting the STA Foundation some more time to get on board we proceeded with a proposal formulation creating the basis for the STA Foundation and the STB (St. Maarten Tourist Bureau) to commence a working relationship.

“During this meeting the Minister urged the STA to be more proactive so that agreed-upon timelines could be met. It was agreed upon that parties would meet again to discuss prepared proposals.

“Following the May meeting the Minister circulated the promised proposals the beginning of June and sought to meet with the STA for discussions. The meeting requested for June 17 did not occur due to non-availability of members of the STA Foundation.”

The foundation responded on June 30, but the minister said its response showed that the foundation “wished to follow its own trajectory on how the working relationship should be established and followed,” which steered “completely away from the agreed-upon trajectory with the Ministry to undertake combined actions simultaneously to ensure the establishment of a proper working relationship between STA and STB.”

“The outlined trajectory by the STA [foundation – Ed.] representatives seemed to be one that would further prolong the commencement of active undertakings by the STA,” while the vision of the minister is to establish the STA within 15 months.

Connor said that trying to activate the foundation since February, but not achieving “any real results by the end of June … left the Ministry with no other option but to omit the intermediary step … and move towards the establishment of the Tourism Authority, so the set targets could be met.

“Ample research has been done on this matter and shared information with counterparts in the Kingdom has provided the basis for this approach.”

Connor added that it was regrettable that foundation members had “elected to place undertakings over the past months in a negative light, since the failure to act is not on the part of the Ministry.”

When contacted by this newspaper on Monday, the foundation representatives said they had no further comment beyond the previous statement, but that rather than aiming to shine any negative light, they simply had made the statement to inform the public of delays in the STA Foundation.

As printed by this newspaper on Friday, however, “without a Board in particular, the foundation is at a standstill, as the role of the Supervisory Council is essentially to supervise the policy and management of the board and its general course of affairs. The board would be giving structure to the functioning of the foundation, and get affairs up and running.”

It should be noted that the three Supervisory Council representatives hold the function on a voluntary basis in addition to their jobs in tourism, which is why they were chosen to represent various industries in the foundation.

They are Regina LaBega, appointed by Princess Juliana International Airport Operating Company; Keith Graham, appointed by St. Maarten Hospitality and Trade Association (SHTA); and Jim Rosen, appointed by St. Maarten Timeshare Association (SMTA).

Appointments to the foundation’s board, which include a director and employees, needed to be made by the ministry. The minister’s statement did not include outstanding questions on these missing appointments.

The structure of the future STA, now to be established without the foundation, was not disclosed. Therefore, it is not known who will be involved and essentially, what the role of the private sector will be. The previous ministry described the spirit of public-private-partnership to be central to the STA, but the difference in vision of moving forward proved a factor that has held back progress.