Willemstad (June 23nd, 2016) – Yesterday, CHATA held its second quarterly Membership Meeting of 2016 at the Cinemark Theater. The member meeting is a platform where CHATA invites speakers to present on current issues of importance to the business and tourism sector. During this meeting, CHATA also takes the opportunity to provide a quick update on the performance of the sector and to introduce new projects.
The Membership Meeting was characterized by an instructive keynote speech by OPEN#121 founders Jürgen Staudacher and Rolf Kutassy. Many parameters influence people’s sensation when looking at destination pictures. Most European countries are using pictures of Caribbean islands to attract visitors. Herein lies a great opportunity for Curaçao to position itself as a unique Caribbean destination offering more than just sun, sea and sand. These and other aspects should be taken into consideration when trying to attract German visitors.
The majority of the Germans aged 30-55 which currently posses the most disposable income can hardly understand English. This also means that Curaçao should make ads in the german language to increase visibility in Germany, Austria and Switzerland but most importantly offer a german product on island such translated menu items, german speaking staff on property etc.
Germany remains of extreme importance for our market mix and the aim of the presentation was to spark up the interest and creativity of our members focusing on this market.
During this meeting, CHATA also provided an overview of Flavors of Curaçao, Caribbean tourism trends, hotel performance, arrival numbers and sharing economy. Liza Dindial, CHATA’s CEO was quoted saying ‘’We need to focus on niche markets such as LGBT tourists in order to drive up occupancy and ADR, we can no longer neglect these markets’’.
The fact remains that we have seen a decline in hotel occupancy in the first five months of 2016. Several factors were discussed that led to a slower hotel performance.
At the end of member meeting, CHATA launched the fourth episode, of the NosTURismo campaign.
