In a letter dated August 4, 2020 addressed to the Prefet Delegate of Saint-Barthélemy and Saint-Martin, Sylvie Feucher, Angèle Dormoy President of the Interprofessional Consular Chamber of Saint-Martin sounded the alarm about the impact cost of closing borders.
Historically, the authorities of the island have always chosen to build a territory based on shared resources and infrastructures: while the reception infrastructures (international airport, cruise port) are located in the Dutch part, the French part prides itself on the tourist charm of its coastline, its architectural heritage, its gastronomy with Creole flavors and world-renowned specialties. Thus, if the two parts of the island are economically interdependent, it is clear that the repercussions are essentially economic:
- Substantial drop in turnover as soon as the border closure is announced,
- Impossibility for our nationals to get supplies on the Dutch side (and vice versa),
- Difficulty in obtaining cross-border travel certificates for business leaders and their employees,
- Difficulty of logistical organization,
- Our supermarkets and other retail businesses are mostly supplied partly from the Netherlands (Port Cargo and Storage),
- Our taxis depend mainly on arrivals in Juliana, the transport of tourists between the hotels of Simpson-bay and the restaurants of Grand-Case or the city center of Marigot,
- Our construction craftsmen get their supplies from hardware stores in Phillipsburg and Colebay,
- Our retirees cannot access the banks of the Dutch side and the Health / Retirement Insurance Fund (SZV),
- We cannot visit our brothers, our cousins, our parents…
We recognize and salute the work of the State services in the management of this health crisis as well as the support measures for businesses: this health and economic disaster, which we are experiencing, is destroying our economy and our families - on this island, always , under reconstruction. Within the CARE unit, set up by the Collectivity in partnership with the CCISM to regularize the administrative, fiscal and social situations of companies, we observed that nearly 60% of VSEs and independent business leaders were unable to benefit aid announced by the Government during confinement. In this context, local economic players have chosen to devote all their energy to restarting businesses and safeguarding the region's economy. In fact, behind tourism and market services, there is know-how, neighborhoods, social cohesion… families. The STAYCATION system put in place represents € 515 that can be reinjected into the local economy in addition to the contribution from customers. The member companies having trusted the device, have already seen an increase in their attendance in July, with customers coming from both sides of the island. Thus, as the Interprofessional Consular Chamber of Saint-Martin (CCISM), representative of the economic world of the territory, it is our duty to sound the alarm bells. Companies are bloodless, despite their resilience, and are suffering from this unprecedented economic slump: Indeed, the consequences of IRMA, the bromates crisis, the demonstrations of December 000 on the PPRN, and the current health crisis of Covid-2019 have largely contributed to the killing of our economy. This new border closure will lead to the certain death of hundreds of businesses on the French part of the island, which is losing around 19% of their customers. "
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