…10% more stayover arrivals in June 2018…
WILLEMSTAD – July 20th, 2018
June Visitor Arrivals 2018
The Curaçao Tourist Board (CTB) is reporting an overall 10% growth in visitor arrivals in June 2018. Precisely, in total 2,862 more visitors were registered in June 2018, bringing the total count to 30,820 visitors against 27,958 in the same month last year. All markets of focus performed well. The Netherlands, United States of America, Canada, Brazil, Colombia and Aruba performed satisfactorily in June 2018.
The main producing region, Europe, grew by 14% in June 2018. A total of 14,725 stayover arrivals were counted where last year we welcomed 12,953 stayover arrivals originating from Europe.
Curaçao welcomed a total of 12,062 stayover visitors from the Netherlands; the main producing country closed June with double digit growth of 18%. It is the first time in history that we have surpassed twelve thousand visitors from Holland in June. The Netherlands continues to be the leading country where 39% of our share from stayover arrivals is originating. This growth is the effect of having two additional flights from Amsterdam this summer. The seasonal flights between Brussels and Curaçao that started on June 18th resulted in 40% more visitors from Belgium. A total of 467 Belgian visitors visited Curaçao in June 2018.
CTB registered a total of 7,523 stayover visitors from North America in June 2018, ranking North America the second biggest contributor in visitor arrivals. Curaçao welcomed a total of 680 stayover visitors from Canada, which is a 3% growth for the slow season month. From the United States of America an increase of 28% is registered in June 2018. USA counted many additional seats this summer which was not the case last year. From Charlotte we have the second weekly flight and out of Miami the upgauge of equipment with American Airlines. JetBlue started with the fourth weekly flight from New York (JFK) on June 19th. All these additional flights in combination of CTB and its stakeholders continuous support of branding Curaçao in the USA resulted in a total of 6,843 visitors in June. Last year we recorded 5,348 stayover arrivals from USA.
Both secondary focus countries from South America performed very well recording double digit growth. From Colombia we registered an increase of 14% to a total of 2,250 stayover visitors. The increase in stayover arrivals is the result of marketing efforts. Traffic from Brazil recorded growth of 15% in June 2018. In total 819 Brazilians were welcomed. A total of 1,986 Caribbean visitors were welcomed in June 2018. From our neighbor island Aruba a growth of 27% is registered. A total of 1,115 Aruban visitors travelled to Curaçao in June.
January through June Visitor Arrivals 2018
The overall stayover arrivals in the first six months grew by 2% compared to last year. Curaçao welcomed in total 204,804 stayover visitors in the first six months of 2018. If we take the tourism count from Venezuela out of the total stayover arrivals we would have register 8% growth. During the first six months of 2018 a total of 86,435 Dutch visitors were welcomed. Last year in the same period 77,744 Dutch visitors were counted, an increase of 11%. From the United States of America the year to date growth is recorded at 14% counting a total of 36,094 US visitors from January through June 2018. In 2017 we welcomed 31,743 stayover arrivals from USA. Canada grew with 6% more visitors, counting a total of 13,517 stayover arrivals in the first half of the year 2018.
A direct impact of $ 307.8 million US dollars is generated for the local economy in the first six months of 2018. 46% of the total direct impact is generated from European visitors who are responsible for $ 142.9 million US dollars. The direct economic impact from the remaining regions is as follows: North America $ 80.6 million, South America $ 45.2 million and Caribbean/other regions $ 39.1 million.
