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THE DAILY HER2A3LD
ECONOMIST ARJEN ALBERTS REPORTS: 1A2WEMFaeibnrutarDy6ia,h20u1e6bs, 03 Maart 2016
WEEKENDER
OUR TOURISM DEVELOPMENT DOES NOT LEAD TO HIGHER PRODUCTIVITY
known as “Small Island Alberts argues. in tourism demand varied, specialised)
need to be sought out
Tourism Economies” Although Aruba and Sint and catered to more hospitality formulas.”
(SITEs) that are prevalent Maarten were both affected effectively.”
throughout the Caribbean by global crises like 9/11 ALBERTS IS mildly
and the world. Within this and the 2008 financial optimistic about the
group of SITEs, however, breakdown, the heavy A CHOICE FOR quality chances of reaching
reliance on tourism did not over quantity cannot
both Dutch islands are make the impact of these be realized overnight, a more sustainable
at the top of the ranking occurrences more dramatic development formula
in terms of intensity of than in other countries of according to Alberts. for Aruba and Sint
the same scale. It will take a new class
tourism development. of investor: “One that Maarten, pointing also at
the need for an effective
Looking at a combination brings a technologically role for government:
of tourist numbers in more advanced
relation to its population, AS THE AUTHOR points ‘production process’ “Achievement of these
tourism dollars received objectives will take
Arjen Alberts per resident and room out, it is not the one- indicated, for instance, strategic efforts in
numbers per square sided focus on tourism by higher levels of
kilometre, Sint Maarten that makes the islands’ value added per room close public-private
Out of the six Caribbean and Aruba are consistently cooperation, affecting
in the global top-three. development model and per employee. is
islands that are part Even within the worldwide vulnerable, but rather the natural resources as well. should be feasible in itself; all factors of production
group of islands specialized Obviously, ever increasing
of the Dutch Kingdom, in tourism, both islands choice for quantity over volume is not a sustainable both islands constitute and the institutional
have taken development to strategy for small islands.
Aruba and Sint Maarten the extreme. quality. known and proven markets framework in which they
erefore, a new emphasis
in particular chose a high is needed. and investment locations.” operate.”
“Within the tourism sector,
intensity tourism-driven e development so far new niches with higher
has entailed continued value added need to be
development path, immigration in large sought out, while the bulk Another important Immigration-dependent
numbers, rapidly increasing of the current hospitality extensive growth in small
starting several decades the population density on industry needs to shrink condition for a higher island tourism economies:
the islands. e continuous in quantity and grow in the cases of Aruba and
ago. An analysis of this development of more quality. Premium trends value-added development Sint Maarten is available
tourism resorts fills the via http://online.
socio-economic model is islands and their coastlines is a better qualified liverpooluniversitypress.
very fast, straining the co.uk/loi/idpr/38/1
the topic of a PhD project WHILE THE economies of workforce. “Higher and
Sint Maarten and Aruba
by political scientist and have grown very fast, so more effective education
have their populations. As
economist Arjen Alberts. Alberts points out, Sint of the existing workforce
Maarten turned from an
For the first time, the exporter of labour to the will be necessary to operate
refineries of Aruba and
cases of Aruba and Sint Curaçao, to an immigration more advanced (luxurious,
“node”, receiving vast
Maarten are the subject numbers of foreign
workers to populate the
of an article published rapidly growing hospitality
industry; so much so, that
in a peer-reviewed population growth actually
kept pace with economic
scientific journal. growth. In other words,
on average, economic
The International productivity did not
Development increase.
Planning Review is
a journal published by the
University of Liverpool,
UK. Alberts’ article
“Immigration-dependent
extensive growth in small
island tourism economies:
the cases of Aruba and Sint
Maarten” appeared in its
January 2016 edition. On
his path to a PhD degree, “ erefore, as in the
the author will have to case of Aruba, there is
publish three more articles a lack of translation of
on the development model tourism volume growth
shared by Aruba and Sint into real GDP increase,
Maarten. and therefore a lack of
productivity growth.” is
Looking at the past 30 to trend is visible in Aruba
40 years of apparent fast after the closing of the
development, Alberts Lago and the subsequent
argues that economic rapid transition to tourism,
growth in Aruba and Sint productivity did grow until
Maarten has been mainly 1990, but stayed level since;
extensive, meaning that while in Sint Maarten,
volume did indeed grow, productivity did grow as
but productivity per well during the 1980s, also
person did not; in other to taper off. Both Aruba
words, more quantity at and Sint Maarten show no
the same level of quality. growth in real per capita
“After a period of rising GDP since the early 1990s.
real per capita GDP
during the initial years … SURPRISINGLY, THE
of the tourism industry heavy emphasis on tourism,
in its current form, both often described as a “one-
countries’ real per capita pillar economy” does not
GDP levels are no longer seem to be a bad strategy
increasing, with Aruba by itself, when we look at
settling at a slightly higher the experience of other
level than Sint Maarten.” islands internationally.
THE DEVELOPMENT Specialisation and Stagnation of productivity in Aruba and Sint Maarten
path followed by Sint dedication to one industry (vertical: average annual real per capita GDP in dollars of 1996)
Maarten and our sister may indeed often be the
island Aruba is not best strategy for small is graph is the most clear indicator that Aruba as well as Sint Maarten have grown without increasing quality
altogether unique; in fact, islands. Moreover, tourism of production. It shows the development of real per capita GDP in Aruba and Sint Maarten since 1980 until the
there is a documented as a sector is far more present day. An increase in real per capita GDP would signify a growing productivity, in other words more wealth is
class of island economies economically “resilient” created per person on the island. However, as we can see from the development plotted here, no sustained increase in
than we often think, productivity has taken place since the 1990s. Both islands stay at the same level of real production, with Aruba settling
in somewhat higher than Sint Maarten, until recently.
