…11% increase in stayover arrivals…
WILLEMSTAD – February 28th, 2019
January Visitor Arrivals 2019
Curaçao’s tourism product continues to attract thousands to our island and this is noticeable as there has been continual growth in stayover visitor arrivals. The Curaçao Tourist Board (CTB) is reporting double digit growth of 11% in stayover visitor arrivals for January 2019. Precisely, in total 4,416 more visitors were registered in the first month of 2019, bringing the total count to 44,151 stayover visitors against 39,735 in January 2018.
January 2019 was also a record setting month with the following firsts:
·Over 18,000 stayover visitors from The Netherlands
·3,768 stayover visitors from Canada
The Netherlands surpassed its previous highest number of stayover arrivals recorded in December 2018. The year started with an impressive performance where 18,298 stayover visitors were welcomed out of our main producing country. This is a 7% increase when compared to January 2018. The introduction of Condor flights from Frankfurt, Germany which began on November 7th 2018 has resulted in positive growth from Germany. 1,753 German visitors were welcomed in January 2019, which was a 33% increase over January 2018.
The continuous support of CTB and partners to brand Curaçao in North America is reaping rewards for the island. The North American region holds 24% share of all the visitors to Curaçao. In total 10,534 stayover visitors were welcomed from USA and Canada. Both countries registered double digit growth of 14% in January 2019. The USA saw a total of 6,766 stayover visitors, while Canada had record-breaking number of stayover visitors at 3,768. Canada benefits from increased airlift, brought on by additional flights from Air Canada this winter season.
In total stayover visitors from South America performed well recording double digit growth. The region grew by 24%. In absolute numbers 7,519 stayover visitors were welcomed in January 2019 from South America. Colombia and Brazil registered an increase of respectively 22% and 12% stayover visitors.
Economic Impact and Visitor Nights
CTB and MEO utilizes the ‘Turistika Model’ to calculate the economic impact generated from the tourism industry. A direct impact of $ 69.9 million US dollars is generated for the local economy in January 2019. The direct impact generated from Tourism in January 2019 is 6% more when compared to January 2018. 45.6% of the total direct impact is generated from European visitors who are responsible for $ 31.9 million US dollars. The North American, South American and other regions generated respectively $ 18.5, $ 11.8 and $ 7.7 million US dollars.
The overall visitor nights grew by 5% in January 2019. In total 411,846 visitor nights are registered in January. Out of Europe tourists spent 261,388 nights in Curaçao, a 4% increase. North and South American visitors spent respectively 80,806 and 53,802 nights in January 2019.
