No passport, no vacation in paradise
US Passport requirements go into effect January 8, 2007 for air passengers

Planning to travel to St. Maarten by air before January 8, 2007, and return to the US on or after that date? If you are a US citizen, you need to make sure you have a valid US passport, so that you could re-enter the country. If you do not have a valid US passport, you may, in fact, not be allowed to start the journey.

The implications of the extension of the passport requirement deadlines under the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI), only for land and sea passengers, has the Caribbean tourist industry, including the St. Maarten, very disappointed to put it mildly.

The modified WHTI — signed into law Wednesday, October 4, 2006, by U.S. President George W. Bush — allows U.S. citizens to return from trips to Canada and Mexico, or from cruises throughout the Caribbean, without a passport until June 1, 2009. But the law maintains that air travelers to those areas must be in possession of a valid passport with effect from January 8, 2007. Currently, U.S. visitors can enter 27 Caribbean countries without passports, needing only birth certificates or driver’s licenses for travel to and from these countries.

Despite the partial extension of the deadlines, Caribbean tourism authorities worry about revenue loss because cruise travelers tend to spend less money in a single port than those who traveled by air to the same country. They fear the measure would discourage American visitors, who made up 53% of the region’s 22 million visitors arriving by air in 2005.

No one, in fact, disputes the need for the new rules, designed to prevent terrorists and other criminals from entering the United States through Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. However, given the fact that only about 27% of Americans have current, valid passports, the anxiety about the possible impact on the region’s tourism industry - its main foreign exchange earner – is genuine.

Vincent Vanderpool Wallace, Secretary-General of the Caribbean Tourism Organization, CTO, said the decision could hinder tourism to the region, which had already suffered heavy losses in tourism revenues following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The CTO, under the leadership of Vanderpool Wallace, has already embarked on a passport campaign under the new Caribbean brand. This campaign can be viewed at www.onecaribbean.org/information.

The US State Department is reported to be already experiencing an unprecedented demand for passports, due in part to this new regulation.

Therefore, for those US citizens planning a visit to St. Maarten by air and intending to stay beyond January 8, 2007, it is highly recommended to obtain a passport right away, bearing in mind that the process could take at least some six weeks, although it could be expedited at additional cost to the applicant. Further information on how to obtain a US passport can be obtained at: www.travel.state.gov.

In short, have passport, will travel; no passport, no vacation in paradise beyond the first week of the new year.

2006 Tourism Lifetime Award for Neste

Nestor “Neste” Marius Dunkin was born in Columbier, St. Martin in 1941. He was the only child of Antoine and Alicia Dunkin. Both parents passed away when Neste was just a boy. The village literally raised him. Today, Neste is a kind-hearted man who visits with the elderly on his days off. He is called the ambassador of his church. Neste loves music and pork chop and fish dishes.
In 1966, Neste joined the St. Maarten Aviation Services working on the ramp. He became the baggage handler when it was still “a very small airport.” He too is amazed with the changes at the airport. He is sure that “the new airport is going to be very nice.”

Neste is not an airport fixture. He is rather, even as he goes about his work, an endearing personality that typifies the friendly St. Martin nature. He recalled warmly, “A man came over to me once who still remembered me from when he first arrived on St. Maarten as a young boy. This man returned many years later and he still recognized me.”

The friendly porter is approaching retirement age. But hopes to be at the airport “for another three years, God’s willing,” said Neste (in photo with tourist bureau officer Marla Chemont).

“The St. Maarten experience is firstly about our people and maybe that is why at its best it embraces people from all over the world. Mr. Neste Dunkin is an example of the people who make the St. Maarten experience unique. We are happy to bestow on him the St. Maarten Tourist Bureau 2006 Tourism Lifetime Award,” said tourism director Regina LaBega