WILLEMSTAD- July 31, 2017 – On July 31 of this year, the Kas di Kultura Kòrsou Foundation and the Curaçao Tourist Board (CTB) signed a collaboration agreement in which both entities express their willingness to collaborate more closely for the benefit of the country of Curaçao. The agreement uses a number of principles as a basis for cooperation in the areas agreed. The signing of this important agreement took place in a pleasant atmosphere, with members of the board and personnel of both organizations in attendance. Ms. Altagracia Bryson, Chair of the Kas di Kultura Kòrsou Foundation’s Board, Ms. Emly Francisca, Director of the Kas di Kultura Kòrsou Foundation and Mr. Hugo Clarinda, Interim Director of the CTB addressed the audience at the signing.
Curaçao’s cultural heritage is an important element of its tourism product and serves as a differentiating factor, while tourism, on the other hand, contributes to the preservation of the island’s cultural heritage. Both the Tourism Master Plan and the Cultural Management Plan recognize culture’s key role in the development of Curaçao’s tourism product. The two entities recognize that tourism promotion for the island abroad should also focus on its cultural heritage. The island’s culture reflected in its tourism product works as a competitive advantage. It is therefore extremely important to continue investing in creating awareness, and firmly rooting this cultural awareness in the community.
Visitors nowadays are more and more interested in concepts such as experiential travel, tourism based on experiences, which focusses on creating authentic experiences by connecting the visitor to special sites, people and/or cultural elements of the destination. Cultural neighborhood projects that integrate tourists into the activities, known as Community Based Tourism, are another concept in which tourism and culture overlap. It is imperative for all those who work in the area of either tourism or culture, as well as for the community at large, to be good ambassadors of tourism, of culture and of Curaçao in general. “Only by working together will we be able to take our country’s development to the next level,” was the message conveyed.
The areas of cooperation identified by the CTB and the Kas di Kultura Kòrsou Foundation include organizing joint workshops, identifying sites, events and other items of cultural interest, providing culture and tourism training to employees, tourism workers and artists, giving presentations at tourism and cultural events, having both cultural and tourism elements included in courses and workshops organized by either entity, and mutual cooperation in connection with Culture Week and Tourism Week.
