It appears efforts to open up the Brazilian tourism market to "The Friendly Island" have paid off. The GOL charter flight is overbooked and prospects for the second half of the year look excellent.

Having St. Maarten promoted at the current 14th national travel agent meeting in São Paulo (see related article) is undoubtedly important to reinforce this positive development. The annual gathering is considered one of the South American country's biggest tourism events.

As any travel expert will tell you, establishing a foothold in a major market is one thing, keeping and expanding it quite another. By the same token, persuading an airline to initiate flights, especially with certain incentives, is often easier than having it maintain them.

As such, the jury is to a certain extent still out when it comes to Brazilian tourism in terms of its long-term sustainability. An increase in the number of flights would go a long way in this regard.

But while it is possible to create interest for the destination, in the end it is the actual demand in terms of bookings that usually determines whether any airline is willing to invest more in a route, obviously because it considers such profitable. Continued promotion and marketing are key ingredients to help make that happen.

The Brazil flights clearly have boosted arrivals from South America, but more is possible and desirable to diversify the island's source market now dominated by North America. Countries such as Argentina and Colombia hold great potential as well, the latter also because of recently relaxed visa requirements for its nationals.

Latin American tourism has the added advantage that it is not based on the winter in the northern hemisphere considered the "high season" locally. This makes it possible to create some much-needed business during the slower months and ultimately perhaps could even lead to more year-round rather than seasonal employment, which is obviously preferable for social considerations.