The Canadian tour of the St. Martin Tourism Board began Tuesday (October 18), with Montreal as its first stop, followed by Ottawa and Toronto. TravelPulse was there.
"We have experienced two major dramas in recent years, explained Valérie Dansereau, President of the St. Martin Tourist Board. "In 2017 hurricane Irma devastated the island and everything had to be rebuilt, then the pandemic hit in 2020 when we had only just revived tourism."
The Saint-Martin delegation is promoting the destination ahead of the ever-important Fall/Winter travel season. Speaking at events in three major cities across Ontario and Quebec, the Saint-Martin delegation shared the latest news about St. Martin directly from the source. The team provided an update on the destination's tourism product, as well as clarity on revised entry requirements and exciting accommodation developments.
The delegation also had the opportunity to meet with some airline partners while in the market. Currently, Air Canada, Transat, WestJet and Sunwing all operate direct flights to the island.
President Damaseau gave a short presentation at each show announcing 2023 as "The Year of Events". Damaseau highlighted the packed schedule of events that visitors to St. Martin can look forward to in 2023, including the SXM Festival, Carnaval, Love Days Festival, and the Oualichi Festival. Damaseau also shared the 2022 dates for the hotly anticipated Festival de Gastronomie, a foodie-focused celebration running this year from November 11-22 that will include a BBQ and mixology competition, cooking workshops, and a culinary village realized with participation by Michelin-starred chefs.
"Even visitors who have already come will discover a new island, since, for the most part, they have not been here since 2017, and everything is new," explains Ms. Dansereau.
The destination met with the agents to remind them that St. Martin is there, more ready than ever to receive visitors this winter.
The island of St. Martin was indeed almost completely rebuilt in 2019, and since then tourism has been slowly resuming. Sunwing will offer one flight per week from Montreal at the end of November as well as Air Transat from mid-December, while Air Canada will fly from Toronto from November 5.
"With our tour operator partners, we offer two all-inclusive packages, the Secrets and the Sonesta, which are our only two all-inclusive resorts on the island, which is more made for long stays. Travellers can rent a car and explore, but we offer all kinds of products for everyone."
And, let's remember, the hotels are all almost new, so it will be a "2.0" experience for those who have already been there, and a surprising discovery for first time visitors.
The Canadian tour of St. Martin continues in the coming weeks in Ottawa, then Toronto.
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