The Curaçao Tourist Board (CTB) has reported an impressive 13% increase in stayover visitors for the month of March, with a total of 45,914 tourists visiting Curaçao, compared to 40,541 in March 2022.
Despite a decrease in visitor arrivals from Europe, the North American and South American markets experienced a significant leap forward during the same period. However, Europe remained the island’s main source region for stayover tourism, with 43% of the total arrivals, followed by North America with 34%, South America with 14%, the Caribbean region with 6%, and the rest of the world with 2%. Resort hotels were the preferred choice of accommodation for 60% of these visitors, while vacation was the primary purpose of travel for 87% of them, followed by business (5%) and weddings (2%).
From the North American region, the US accounted for 11,858 visitors in March, a 60% increase from the same period last year, while the island welcomed a total of 3,849 visitors from Canada. A remarkable figure is that over 70% of North American tourists chose to stay in resort hotels, whereas just over 50% of visitors from the Netherlands (the island’s primary market for tourist arrivals) chose that option of accommodation. From the South American region, Curaçao welcomed 2,754 visitors from Colombia and 1,315 from Brazil. Of these visitors, 65% chose to stay at resort hotels.
Curaçao also recorded a slight increase in cruise ship calls last month, with 42 calls and 107,307 cruise visitors. In March 2022, those figures were 39 and 60,237, respectively.