WILLEMSTAD - During the joint press conference of partners from the tourism industry, the Ministry of Economic Development announced that in the first nine months of 2019, the tourism sector generated approximately 1.6 billion guilders for the local economy. Compared to the same period a year earlier, this is a growth of more than 7.8 percent.

It also became clear that Curaçao was able to welcome 11 percent more tourists between January and September than the same period in 2018. In the first nine months of 2019, 346,440 stayover tourists were registered and in 2018 this number was 311,384.

Most of the stayover tourists who visited Curaçao were from the Netherlands, the United States, Colombia, Canada, Germany and Brazil. Together, these markets accounted for 77 percent of the total number of tourists that visited Curaçao between January and September, according to the presentation of the Curaçao Tourist Board (CTB). The number of visitors from North America has also increased by 7 percent; South America with 14 percent; the Caribbean with 20 percent and Europe with 11 percent. Stayover tourists spent a total of 3 million nights in Curaçao in the first nine months of 2019.

There were also good figures in the field of cruise tourism this year. Curaçao Ports Authority (CPA) indicated that the number of cruise ships calling at the port of Curaçao has increased by 2 percent. 203 cruise ships entered the port between January and September.

With regard to the number of cruise tourists, 541,621 cruise passengers visited Curaçao in the aforementioned period. This is an increase of 3.1 percent over the same period a year earlier, according to CPA.

Unlike the other partners, the Hospitality Association Chata has seen a decrease. Hotel occupancy decreased by 2.5 percent during the first nine months of this year. Hotel occupancy was 67.9 percent on average between January and September 2019, compared to 70.4 percent in the same period a year earlier.

The average daily rate (Average Daily Rate, ADR) has increased by 0.5 percent; from $ 143.56 in 2018 to $ 144.32 in 2019. Turnover per available room (Revenue per Available Room, RevPAR), on the other hand, fell by 2.5 percent; from $ 101.16 in 2018 to $ 98.57 in 2019.