WILLEMSTAD – May 31, 2017 – A direct impact of $ 182.7 million US dollars is generated for the local economy in the first four months of 2017. Last year, the same period generated $ 184.2 million US dollars. This is a slight decrease of 0.8% of the direct impact to the local economy. 53.0% of the total direct impact is generated from European visitors who are responsible for $ 96.8 million US dollars. The North American, South American and other regions generated respectively $ 46.3, $ 29.5 and $ 10.1 million US dollars.
144,271 stayover visitors were welcomed in Curaçao in the first four months of 2017. Last year we counted 165,025 stayover visitors over the same period, a decrease of 13%. Despite the negative stayover arrivals performance during the first four months, we see an in increase in the average nights spent on island. The preliminary statistics show an overall average of 8.9 nights per visitor in the first four months of 2017 compared to 7.9 nights in 2016. An increase of 13% is registered during the first four months of 2017. In total visitors spent 1,280,737 nights in Curaçao. 63.2% of the visitors nights spent are from European visitors, representing 809,208 nights from the region. In total an increase of 5% visitor nights is registered from European visitors. From North America, the visitor nights increased by 1%. A total of 225,116 nights are registered in the first four months. The increase in visitor nights affects the overall spending on island. The current trend from Europe and North America is that visitors are staying on average one night longer than previous year.
April Visitor Arrivals & Visitor Nights 2017
In April, Curaçao welcomed a total of 13,512 stayover visitors from the Netherlands, a decrease of 4% compared to April 2016. Visitors from Holland stayed longer than previous year. The average night per visitor in April 2017 from The Netherlands was 10.6 nights per person. Last year April we saw that visitors from Holland stayed on average 10.1 nights.
The amount of stayover visitors from Germany registered an increase of 23%, counting 2,454 visitors. In April 2016 we welcomed 1,994 German visitors. The double digit increase from Germany is the effect of this year’s Easter vacation dates. Last year this Holiday was in March and thus we see a shift in arrivals to April. The average night per person from Germany also increased in April by 21%. Last year we registered on average 8.6 nights per person, while this year we see an average stay of 10.4 nights per person.
CTB registered a total of 6,390 stayover visitors from North America in April 2017. The recorded number of visitors from North America is good for a neutral performance, holding 0% growth compared to last year. Curaçao welcomed a total of 1,803 stayover visitors from Canada, recording a 15% growth. From the United States of America 4,587 stayover visitors are registered. The loss of 213 visitors from USA is a 4% decrease.
In April we welcomed less South Americans, a total of 6,403 stayover visitors are registered. This fall is due to the continuing drop in stayover arrivals from Venezuela, with 58% less stayover visitors compared to last year. In April we welcomed 2,554 stayover visitors from Venezuela. Stayover arrivals from Brazil decreased
by 6%, a difference of 42 less Brazilians are counted this year. April 2017 recorded 667 Brazilian visitors. We registered an increase of 93% to a total of 1,519 stayover visitors from Colombia. The continuous marketing effort in Colombia combined with charter flights from Bogota resulted in a positive performance.
April registered an increase in average visitor nights per stay of 9%. On average visitors stayed 8.6 nights in April. Last year the average nights per person was recorded at 7.9 nights. In terms of total visitor nights an increase of 2% is recorded in April 2017. A total of 302,547 visitor nights were registered compared to 295,859 last year.
The ratio between visitor nights and stayover arrivals shows that despite the fact we registered less stayover arrivals, the visitor nights are showing a less negative outcome in terms of the direct economic impact from the tourism industry.