WILLEMSTAD – July 17, 2023 – The Curaçao Tourist Board (CTB) is reporting 272,870 stayover visitors from January through June 2023, representing a 20% increase compared to the same period in 2022, when 227,553 tourists visited Curaçao. Previously CTB indicated its stayover target for 2023 was to reach 525,000 stayover arrivals. The first six months clearly shows that stayover arrivals are in the right direction to achieve the yearly target. So far, each month surpassed its monthly target to cross the half million stayover arrivals mark for the first time in history. The image below shows the monthly performance of 2023 compared to the monthly target and last year’s arrivals.
Stayover arrivals by region June 2023:
CTB welcomed 44,370 stayover arrivals in June 2023, an 18% increase compared to June 2022. The anticipated fall from the European region is recorded in June with 8% less arrivals. CTB recorded a total of 13,804 Dutch visitors in June, last year the arrivals from the Netherlands was registered at 14,796 visitors, a 7% decrease.
The tourist arrivals from the North American region increased by 45%. In total 14,281 North American visitors were recorded, of which 13,071 are residents from the United States of America. It is the first time in history that CTB recorded 13 thousand stayover visitors in a single month from the USA.
There is also a substantial rise in visitor arrivals out of South America, as the CTB reports a 41% growth in arrivals. The Caribbean region also shows growth, recording 45% more visitors than last year.
The image below shows the performance of each region compared to last year, including the share of the total arrivals.
Top 5 countries:
Altogether the top 5 countries’ market share in arrivals for June 2023 was 76%. CTB sees a decline in stayover arrivals out of the Netherlands, this is the impact of having less seat capacity out of the Dutch market, however the diversification of having other top countries performing spectacular is holding an overall positive performance. Despite of recording less Dutch visitors in June 2023, CTB reports that arrivals from Holland are similar compared to June 2019, when we recorded 13,082 Dutch visitors. Out of the USA we have recorded 36% more visitors compared to June 2022. One of the main reasons of this increase is the great collaboration between the public and private sector promoting Curaçao in the United States of America. In addition, the increase in service out of JFK with JetBlue is also effective as of April 6th. The image below shows the performance of the top 5 countries, including their top 3 states of residence of our visitors.
Accommodation, average nights, and demographics:
Information gathered from the Immigration card shows that altogether visitors spent 7.9 nights on average in Curaçao. Sixty-one percent of all the visitors stayed in resort hotels. Many of the visitors who travelled in June are between 25 and 44 years old (40%) and 45 and 64 years old (32%). The images below illustrate the accommodation and demographics of the tourists who travelled to Curaçao in June 2023.
Cruise data:
There were 8 cruise ship calls and 18,436 cruise visitors in June, this year.
Last year, Curaçao Ports Authority reported 9 cruise ship calls and 29,808 cruise passengers.
