WILLEMSTAD - Tourism on Curacao grew by 9 percent in 2019. According to Hugo Clarinda of the Curacao Tourist Board (CTB), the growth was measured from January to November, but he expects that December will also show substantial growth.

No less than 419,000 tourists came to the island until the end of November. Last year there were 384,000.

Fewer tourists came to Curacao from North and South America. 15 percent fewer tourists came from North America and South America showed a decrease of 23 percent.

Clarinda says that CTB is increasing the seating capacity from North America. According to the CTB official, conversations are taking place with various American aviation companies. He doesn't want to say what they are yet.

Hugo Clarinda expects a positive year as the number of rooms will increase considerably.

The budget of the CTB will also increase in 2020. In 2019, the tourist office received 36 million guilders, in 2020 they can count on 38 million guilders from the government. And according to Clarinda, discussions are ongoing for a further increase in the budget.