PHILIPSBURG:--- Sint Maarten recently hosted some thirty-three birding enthusiast from Carefree Birding, a birding based cruising group that travel throughout the Caribbean to engage in the growing birding tourism sector.
Nature Foundation Board Member and Birding Guide Binkie Van Es showed the thirty-three birding enthusiast Sint Maarten’s unique bird habitat and species; “It is exciting to be able to bring increased birding tourism to Sint Maarten and put the island on the birding map. We often do not realize how unique and important birding tourism is for Sint Maarten and how much potential the island has in tapping into a significant market. During this trip, I also had the honor to show Sint Maarten’s unique birding wildlife to Kevin Karlson and his Wife Dale, both celebrity birders and authors of multiple field guides, amongst which the famous book The Shorebird Guide. This goes to show that nature tourism and birding, in particular, can be a very valuable addition to Sint Maarten's package and that under the management of the Nature Foundation and its expertise in this matter this can and should be further developed for the destination, “ commented Van Es.
Reader's Digest, an American general-interest family magazine which is published monthly and reaches approximately 40 million people in more than 70 countries, with 49 editions in 21 languages, recently named Sint Maarten one of the top ten birding sites in the Americas, citing the fact that conservation efforts and efforts to increase eco-tourism are starting to pay off. Bird-tourism is a multi-million dollar industry and together with other eco-tourism initiatives, it would be in the best interest of the country to continue to invest in building out this market. This shows that not only does environmental protection work in safeguarding nature, but also has an impact on the economy of St. Maarten in a very positive way.
