St. Martin Is Looking Beyond Peak Season for Its Next Tourism Gains
New flights, rising visitor numbers, and stronger regional connections are supporting the island’s push for year-round demand.
Photo: Ramon Kagie / Unsplash
The Caribbean island of St. Martin is working to turn a recent tourism surge into sustained, year-round demand, supported by new air routes, additional hotel development, and a campaign centered on the island’s culture and repeat visitors.
Arrivals to the dual-nation island increased 18% year over year, according to tourism officials speaking at the 2026 St. Maarten/St. Martin Annual Regional Tradeshow (SMART). The destination now receives approximately 800,000 overnight guests annually, while 1.6 million cruise passengers pass through its two territories.
Held earlier this summer, SMART offered a detailed look at how the Dutch and French sides plan to build on that demand: the annual trade show drew representatives from a record 30 countries, including Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands, Curaçao, Montserrat, Saba, St. Eustatius, and St. Kitts and Nevis. The St. Maarten Hospitality & Trade Association, the St. Maarten Tourism Bureau, the Office de Tourisme de Saint-Martin, and the Club du Tourisme jointly organize the conference.
One of the destination’s biggest areas of expansion is air service to Princess Juliana International Airport and L’Espérance Airport. Southwest Airlines entered the market in April with flights from Orlando and Baltimore, while other carriers added direct connections from Trinidad and Martinique. New service from Germany, Italy and the U.K. is intended in part to draw more European visitors during the Caribbean’s traditionally slower summer months.
The European Travel Commission reports that 77% of Europeans reserve the summer months for travel, particularly in July and August, so the island is hopeful that these new routes will help to make the area a more year-round travel destination. (Those efforts may be paying off, as the number of European-based registrations for the SMART conference has also increased in the past few years.)
St. Martin’s standing as a hub for island hopping remains one of the biggest draws for tourists to the area. Visitors are increasingly likely to combine their stay with a visit to one of the neighboring islands, especially Anguilla, located just 20 minutes away by ferry. St. Martin offers excursions to three of these islands, including Anguilla, as part of its “Meet the Neighbors Friday Tours”, which has already grown from two destinations to now include Anguilla, Saba, and St. Eustatius.
The island also recently debuted a new tourism campaign, “It’s Always St. Martin”, which they say was inspired by the island’s repeat visitors, with some first-time visitors returning multiple times within a two-year period.
The campaign highlights key areas the country believes drive tourism, including wellness and rejuvenation, cultural immersion, and slow travel. These focus areas align with data from the Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association showing that visitors are increasingly concerned with authenticity when choosing Caribbean destinations. No longer content with a beautiful beach or property, guests want a slice of everyday island life with genuine cultural experiences, and St. Martin is hoping they can deliver just that.
The island is also looking to expand its reach through social media, leveraging organic TikTok engagement with influencer collaborations, media press trips, and year-round Expedia campaigns. With AI now shaping an estimated 20% of travel decisions, St. Martin hopes strategic investments in SEO will help drive even more new visitors to the region.
To keep up with what they hope will be increased visitors, expanding the number of hotel rooms on the island—from approximately 3,300 rooms to 3,500—is also a focus. To meet this goal, new hotel projects are currently in the works at Happy Bay Beach and La Belle Creole, with additional sites to be announced. These new projects focus on sustainability, building in areas that already have a presence rather than developing new parts of the island, to preserve the destination’s natural beauty while meeting the demands of increased travel.
If the continued rapid growth of the SMART conference itself is any indication, St. Martin is primed to play a big role in the future of Caribbean travel and, with its position as a travel hub, may have an even bigger effect on the region as a whole.
