When it comes to duty free shopping, no Caribbean destination holds more appeal than St. Maarten, a Dutch-speaking outpost of the Netherlands that shares the 37-square-mile island with French-speaking St. Martin.
Puerto Rico, deep in the throes of an economic and fiscal crisis, is losing ground to rival Caribbean tourism destinations while the island’s population continues to shrink — from just over 3.8 million in 2010 to under 3.7 million today.