WILLEMSTAD- November 1, 2022 – Recently the Curaçao Tourist Board (CTB) organized a tourism summit titled: ‘The impact of tourism on the economy of Curaçao’. Those participating at the summit were the ministers, representatives of the economic committee of the Curaçao Parliament and secretary generals of the different ministries. The objective was to present the different activities that CTB is executing with regards to marketing in order to attract more visitors to our island, and tourism product development activities thereby contributing to a better experience for the tourists who choose to visit us. Furthermore, the goal was to show the impact of the tourism sector as an important economic pillar for our island, as well as the challenges, opportunities, and targets for 2023. The opening words were made by Minister of Economic Development, Mr. Ruisandro Cijntje while CTB Counterpart Director, Mr. Muryad de Bruin and Business Intelligence Manager, Mrs. Christine Campagnard led the participants through the presentation. The participants also contributed with their questions and ideas on both marketing and the tourism product development.
During the summit, we showed how we gather, analyze and ultimately use data to executed our 2022 plans for the regions of North America, Europe, South America, and the Caribbean. Also, we discussed the current international trends that affect the travel industry and looked at the type of tourists who visit our island, where they come from, their age, the type of accommodation they choose, how long they stay, how much they spend during their visit, this information was compared to the pre-pandemic year of 2019 and last year. Furthermore, the airlift schedules for the several target markets were also shared and we discussed the different challenges and opportunities with airlift to Curaçao.
Regarding the tourism product development, some actions were presented which are being executed to enhance the experience of tourists, such as the auditing and certification program for establishments in the tourism sector, the ‘Curaçao is dushi and clean’ program, and the progress in construction work at the recreation areas of Marie Pampoen and Zakito, as well as the introduction of tourism in schools and the training sessions for groups in the tourism industry and for the unemployed.
At the end of the summit, CTB thanked the attendees for their participation and emphasized the great collaboration with the several ministries in executing the different actions. CTB will continue its joint efforts together with private sector partners to promote our country as the number 1 tourist destination in the Caribbean.
