St Maarten Tweet : May cruise arrivals surpass projections – St Maarten:
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Archive for June 15th, 2009
POINTE BLANCHE — St. Maarten cruise arrival numbers for May have surpassed the monthly projection by 3,469 passengers. Some 50,266 cruisers came to the island compared to the expected 46,797.
While arrivals were good, May figures were down 13.3 per cent compared to the previous May, when 57,983 cruisers visited, according to St. Maarten Harbour Group of Companies.
May is the only month so far this year that has seen such a drastic drop in arrivals, possibly due to the economic downturn in the United States and elsewhere.
The harbour group had announced its expectation that cruise numbers would dip due to the economic meltdown. Lower numbers are also projected for the remaining summer months, with some spill-over into the high season.
St. Maarten is set to surpass the million-passenger mark. The projected year-end figure is 1,150,858. As of May 31, some 737,569 passengers had visited the island. The 18 cruise ships docking in May represent one less ship than visited last May.
Arrival numbers also dropped in March compared with the same period last year, but there was still 5.1 per cent more arrivals than projected.
March closed off with 174,755 passengers compared to 180,709 in March 2008.
June is expected to bring in 36,638 cruisers.
St. Maarten is preparing for Oasis of the Seas, the world’s largest cruise ship, which will be christened and launched in November. It is designed to carry more than 6,000 passengers and 3,000 crew members.
Oasis of the Seas, the type of ship for which the new mega-cruise ship pier was built, is scheduled to be in port on December 5. St. Maarten is the only port that is far ahead in its preparations for this behemoth.
Source : The Daily Herald St. Maarten
Category: Caribbean News, SXM News, St Maarten News, St Martin News
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