This Tuesday, Tripadvisor has congratulated Sint Maarten / Saint Martin on a achieving the #2 position as a Caribbean destination, and #19th worldwide. According to the company, the sharp increase was the result of a shared Sint Maarten Tourist Board and Sint Maarten Hospitality and Trade Association (SHTA) campaign starting in 2016.
Both parties were contacted by Tripadvisor to share the excellent results. TripAdvisor’s Travelers’ Choice (TC) Awards are based on millions of personal reviews from the world’s most popular travel community. The awards recognize exceptional properties and destinations. Winning the award is achieved by a combination of popularity, comments by visitors and overall ranking on Tripadvisor. Tripadvisor is the largest peer-to-peer travel site in the world allowing travelers to comment about their experiences and recommendations.
In 2016, the Sint Maarten Hospitality and Trade Association (SHTA) launched a public-private partnership with the Sint Maarten Tourist Board last year to boost social media traffic for the island. The awards were granted based on increasing traffic coming from the island, reinforced by further combined efforts with Expedia, USA Today. SHTA is grateful for the close cooperation with the Tourist Board and hopes to be able to continue this Sint Maarten social media team for years to come.
Winning the award increases a destination’s visibility within media. The TripAdvisor Traveler’s Choice Awards receive large press coverage across respected news outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, CNN, Fox News, NBC, ABC News, USA Today, The Huffington Post and many others. Just in the US, Tripadvisor was cited in 6100 news articles over the past year.
However very happy that destinationSint Maarten now ranks this high globally, SHTA stresses the importance that 21st century online marketing only keeps flourishing by continuous effort. High rankings have been the result of both the Sint Maarten Tourist Board as well as SHTA fully engaging in the digital marketing effort. To keep Sint Maarten having high rankings, it is very important to keep the effort continued at the same pace and invest in 21st communications.
The SHTA, the largest business representative on the island, is dedicated to bring quality to all aspects of life on St. Maarten by promoting sustainable economic development for its members in cooperation with the social partners and the creation of a fair marketplace. For more information, please contact the SHTA office: 542-0108, e-mail office@shta.com or visit our website www.shta.com.
