by Brian Major
Last updated: 11:35 AM ET, Thu April 27, 2023
Curaçao’s spring 2023 visitor arrivals are continuing a
growth trend established last year.
The Caribbean nation hosted 45,914
land-based, overnight travelers in March, a 13 percent year-over-year increase compared
with 2022, said Curaçao Tourist Board (CTB) officials.
The early season growth was driven by U.S. visitors, whose
arrivals increased by 60 percent year-over-year in March. Growth from the U.S.
offset a lack of spring 2023 arrivals increases from Europe, traditionally, Curaçao’s
largest source market.
European travelers accounted for 43 percent of Curaçao arrivals
in March despite the flat growth, said CTB officials, ahead of North and South America, with 34 percent and 14 percent of arrivals respectively.
Canada also produced an increase in March overnight
arrivals. Meanwhile, Curaçao hosted 42 cruise ship calls carrying
107,307 passengers in March.
Curaçao is on target to achieve CTB’s forecast of a record
525,000 overnight visitors in 2023, officials said, following year-over-year arrivals
increases of 20 percent in February and 35 percent in January.
Curaçao posted a best-ever 489,558 overnight, land-based visitors in
2022, breaking the country’s record of 467,538 visitors established in 2015.
Curaçao’s 93,428 U.S.-based overnight visitors last year represented
the first during which the nation has drawn more than 90,000 American travelers.
The opening of the Sandals Royal Curaçao and Zoëtry Curaçao Resort & Spa resorts
in 2022 are considered catalysts in the growing U.S. arrivals.
In an April 26 statement, CTB officials attributed Curaçao’s
2022 recovery following the pandemic to its “early reopening strategy [and]
marketing efforts,” and the new resort openings.
Curaçao’s growing popularity among U.S. travelers this year
led JetBlue to add two more flights to the island from New York’s John F.
Kennedy International Airport, increasing the carrier’s weekly nonstop Curaçao flights
from three to five.
“While welcoming new visitors, we remain dedicated to
preserving that which makes our island so desirable,” said Ruisandro Cijntje,
Curaçao’s minister of economic development, “a place you can immerse yourself
in our local art, culture, cuisine, sunshine and adventure.”
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