TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin SXM tourist growth in 2014, esp from Canada

Daily Herald story

Count us as 2 Cdn's that made up the 38,060 counted. The US exchange was not so bad 2013 and 2014, so that probably had an affect. Currently the Cdn $ is sliding against the US, so that might affect travel not already booked. The Cdn increase might have been the reason more Cdn non stop flights have been added. Since last yr 3 flights added I think, An Air Canada and WestJet from Toronto and a Sunwing from Ottawa

Happy New Year
J&B

Go Canada Go!!!

The US is about 10 times larger than Canada so the figures are misleading.

Well, it's no surprise that the US market is more than 5x as large as the Canadian market-the US has a population of approx. 317 million to Canada's 35.5 million-that's nearly 10 x higher than Canada's population. So per capita Canadians travel to SXM way more than Americans. Go Canada Go!!!

The choice in direct flights is definitely a plus. We make it every year now.

With regard to the CAD vs USD:
We notice that it is really strength in the USD against all currencies. I can get as many Euros for my dollar today as a year ago.

So my question is, have prices on the French side (in Euros) increased over the past year? If not, that is good news for we Canadians. But it does make the USD = Eruo deal not so good anymore for folks using USD.

and a WestJet from Montreal, which we will be on next Monday.

We came in October (20 -30) from Vancouver for our honeymoon. Since arriving back home, we have been seeing more of St. Marten being mentioned in gay media than previous.

Yep,,,count us 5 canadians in also,,,,arriving Jan 17th,,,u.s. dollars are going to cost us way more,,,but who cares,,,we are heading to SXM!!!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" />

Do the numbers in the story deal with both airfare as well as cruise ships? I couldn't see any reference to either airfare or water arrival. It seems there has to be more visitors than the numbers stated when you consider how many ships arrive and the amount of people that depart the ships when they enter SXM.

Okay, I just re-read the story and now see the words "stay-over" in it. That I assume means airfare. You agree?

Cuba had 897,000 Canadian visitors, and SXM had 38,000 Canadians - hmmmmm.

Yes, they are talking about people staying on the island, versus cruise visitors. I think the number for purely cruise visitors went over 2 million in 2014.

It went over barely on New Year's eve, but still, nice showing!

Cuba is the cheapest all inclusive island for Canadians to vacation ....is Cuba a quality vacation point ...not sure ...but those $500 per person all in rates do sell ....

The airlines need to make it more convenient to get to SXM from western Canada. Most flights require an overnight stay in order to get to SXM from the west.

I'm not sure it's much different from the western US...

We came from Vancouver BC and we overnight end in Toronto. Most flights leaving from Western Canada/USA do require either an overnight or at least 6 hour layover on the east coast be it Toronto, Charlotte or Miami. Cuba and The Dominican have never really held any appeal as wedon't like to be penned up on a resort while on vacation, we like to roam and wander to our own content. Jamaica will NEVER get any of our money till they become more open minded.

Just a little info about Cuba. It is a very safe country and you are not penned up in a resort there like you are in perhaps Jamaica and a few other places. There is almost no crime in Cuba as the authorities handle it very severely and the people leave their doors open without fear. We were very surprised when we vacationed there. You can travel by car everywhere if you choose, and they have a great bus system.

I was in high school with a guy whose father was the Episcopal Bishop of Cuba when Castro came to power. His parents remained in Cuba to look after church affairs, and he basically did not go back. He's a US attorney now and is delighted at what he is finding out about Cuba and will go back in March. I will see him in May at our 50th high school reunion, and it's really interesting to know someone that well with a lifelong attachment to Cuba. He invited me to go with him to see what Cuba is like before the soon to be radical changes.

Changes started there a few years ago now that local citizens are allowed to own property and conduct businesses. Many local restaurants and lodging facilities have opened up and much progress has been made. They still drive the antique cars and the architecture is amazing.

You really should take that opportunity to visit there as you would find it fascinating!