By the Caribbean Journal staff

St Maarten and home sharing giant Airbnb have signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at promoting tourism to the island, the two sides announced on Monday.

The MOU establishes a “framework of mutual collaboration and cooperation on areas of common interest, including marketing promotion and good faith engagement,” the two sides said.

“As a government, we are pleased to work with Airbnb to take advantage of the opportunity to create a realistic and balanced approach to improving the destination’s room inventory,” said St Maarten Tourism Minister Stuart Johnson. “Signing the MOU with Airbnb also puts the government on the path to generating increased revenue from our tourism product. It also allows us to further explore and capitalize on the benefits of destination marketing from a major platform such as Airbnb.”

St Maarten saw more than 6,200 Airbnb guest arrivals in 2018, according to company data.

The agreement is the 17th of its kind that Airbnb has signed with a Caribbean destination.

“St. Maarten is an important and growing destination for Airbnb. Today’s announcement brings new opportunities to generate sustainable growth of the local tourism industry through our collaborative efforts. Our people-to-people platform aligns with St. Maarten’s reputation as the friendly island, economically empowering locals while they showcase all that makes St. Maarten unforgettable.” said Carlos Munoz, Airbnb Campaign Manager for Public Policy and Communications in the Caribbean and Central America.

— CJ