This Tuesday 9 May 2023, destination St. Maarten received an honorable mention by the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) CAST Committee for its efforts of its November 2022 St. Maarten Flavors Program.
The CHTA Caribbean Alliance for Sustainable Tourism (CAST) awards are meant for destinations making an effort in public – private cooperation, sustainability in tourism, showing tourism resilience in the wake of challenges. The 2023 CAST awards were provided at the Caribbean Travel Forum at the 41st Caribbean Travel Marketplace, in two categories of smaller and larger destinations in the Caribbean.
Bahamian island Eleuthera won the CAST award in the category smaller destinations, after which St. Maarten, Bonaire and Saint Lucia were called to stage as this year’s runners up. CAST Board of Trustees Chairman Kyle Mais made mention of the close call for the committee to honor a destination: “The quality of public private initiatives attempting to contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals has been very high this year. This made deciding on an award winner very difficult for the CAST Board of trustees, and we decided to make honorary mentions for projects on three additional islands next to Eleuthera that ranked high from our jury. All in all, CAST is pleased to see the attention of many NHTAs for the important development goals CAST supports the tourism industry to move towards.”
Destination St. Maarten received the honorary mention for its 2022 experiment St. Maarten Flavors, the destination’s November long, prix fixe dinner month. The program received the accolade for its public – private cooperation, its eye on sustainability and broad involvement of social stakeholders in the process. Finally, it functioned as a fundraiser bringing together over USD$12,000 for a new St. Maarten culinary talent team to be sent as representatives to the prestigious “Taste of the Caribbean” contest in Miami.
A new edition of St. Maarten Flavors is in the making for this November, with a launch at “St. Maarten Flavors Appeteaser Week” this June 15th to 24th, including a St. Maarten Flavors Feast for all to taste on June 17th.
The St. Maarten Hospitality & Trade Association (SHTA) and St. Maarten Tourism Board (STB) delegation present at the event were grateful for the exposure of the destination on the Caribbean Travel Forum, the prelude the 41st Caribbean Travel Marketplace held this week in Barbados.
