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PHILIPSBURG--Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication (TEATT) Claret Connor and Justice Minister Dennis Richardson plan to meet soon with Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA) officials in Florida, United States, to update them on new security measures resulting from the fatal shooting of Police Officer Gamali Benjamin, as part of efforts to curb further negative impacts the tragedy can cause to the tourism industry.
Minister Connor said during Wednesday's press briefing that he, Richardson and Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs had been continuously discussing steps to take in following up on the "life-changing" and "historic" incident.
Connor was on his way back to the island on the day of the shooting, but he contacted FCCA President Michele Paige the next day to inform her that Government "was doing everything within its power to apprehend, in first instance, those responsible, in addition to trying to save the officer's life ... [and – Ed.] to assure St. Maarten would not be permanently stained as a destination."
He has been keeping an open line of communication with FCCA ever since and has held a conference call with Paige and Gumbs. The meeting in Florida is tentatively planned for next week Wednesday and Connor hopes to "again establish that confidence that they should have in our destination."
Pointing to the fact that the shooting happened on a day with more than 12,000 cruise visitors and another 3,700 cruise ship crew members on the island, he requested that the audience "imagine the impact that such a horrible experience can have on the community, but even more so on the economy."
It becomes even more challenging for tourist destinations in terms of trying to curb the negative experiences these incidents can bring, he added. "People become judge, jury and mouthpiece of information, so we had to act and had to act fast."
He described swiftly meeting with Indian Merchants Association (IMA) and St. Maarten Harbour Group of Companies (SHGC) officials following the incident and said SHGC management was in contact with all cruise ships in port to inform them of the situation and let them know that no passenger had been harmed.
In an invited comment about FCCA's reaction, Connor said that because this type of information "spreads like wildfire" FCCA had been aware of the incident already, but was "very much pleased with the response of Government towards them. ... They are our partners in tourism development and as partners we wanted to reach out to show them that we do take the lives of our citizens seriously and the lives of our visitors seriously."
Paige was said to have expressed appreciation for being kept abreast of the situation as it unfolded and at the fact that the ministers were willing to go to Florida to discuss measures to be taken.
