Curaçao strongest recovery of Caribbean destinations
WILLEMSTAD- 28 April 2022 – On a monthly basis the associations CHATA & CASHA publish the figures regarding hotels, alternative accommodations, car rentals and diving schools. By doing this together, both associations aim to create a balanced overview of Curaçao’s tourism & hospitality sector’s performance and recovery.
CASHA presents occupancy figures for March 2022
Occupancy for alternative accommodations reached 77,14% in the month of March, which is a decrease compared to the month of February (85,5%). CASHA is positive regardless, as this remains a good occupancy rate. These figures indicate that a great number of travelers are choosing for alternative accommodations, with an eye for detail, such as eco-friendly resorts. Additionally, the price is also another important factor when it comes to choosing for a smaller accommodation. Five of the participating accommodations reported an occupancy of 90% or more and are spread over the island from Jan Thiel to Saliña and Pietermaai. The remaining accommodations reported an occupancy between 35% and 90%.
Despite the fact that it might seem as if COVID does not exist anymore, some travelers are still cancelling due to Covid infection right before traveling. Dive schools reported an average occupancy of 68,76% and experience a lot of hindrance due to not-registered dive schools with far cheaper prices. According to CASHA, the last-minute booking trend remains among smaller accommodations, making it difficult to predict the months of April and May. However, CASHA remains optimistic regarding the recovery and increasing occupancy figures.
CHATA occupancy figures for March 2022
The month of March was also a positive month for CHATA members in terms of hotel occupancy. In March the larger hotels had an average occupancy of 69,2%. Compared to the year before (31,8%) this is a substantial increase of 117,4%. However, if we look at the occupancy data pre-COVID (March 2019: 74,4%), this is a slight decrease of 7%, and thus indicates a recovery rate of 93%. Year to date this means Curaçao has a recovery rate of 85% for the first quarter vs. Q1 2019, which is very good compared to 2021 (32,8%). The average daily rate once more increased with 38,5% compared to 2021, to $214,86. Compared to March of 2019, this is also an increase of 22,2%. As for the revenue per available room, numbers indicate a significant increase of 201,1% compared to 2021. From $49,40 in 2021 to $148,71 in 2022. Compared to the pre-COVID data, the revenue per available room also increased with 13,7%.
The table below, showcases the STR data compared to the last two years:
| March | 2022 | 2021 | 2022 vs. 2021 | 2019 | 2022 vs. 2019 |
| Occ. | 69,2% | 31,8% | +117,4% | 74,4% | -7,0% |
| ADR | $214,86 | $155,18 | +38,5% | $175,87 | +22,2% |
| RevPAR | $148,71 | $49,40 | +201,1% | $130,83 | +13,7% |
*Smith Travel Research (STR) is the leading global provider of competitive benchmarking, information services and research to the hotel industry.
United Nations World Tourism Organization confirms strong Caribbean recovery
According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) the latest statistics show that e.g., in January 2022 worldwide total international stopover tourist arrivals was just 32.9% of the total achieved in January 2019. However, most recently published numbers for Caribbean destinations show that the region achieved 63.5% of its total for the same months of 2019, the highest rate of recovery of any region in the world. The top performing destinations in the Caribbean in early 2022 are the US Virgin Islands, the Dominican Republic, Curaçao, Aruba, Puerto Rico, Antigua & Barbuda, and Saint Lucia. This performance continues the positive trend seen in 2021 when the UNWTO estimates the world’s tourism sector saw 421 million international stopover arrivals, just 28.7% of the 1.468 billion arrivals seen in 2019. The Caribbean was the best performing region in the world seeing 15.0 million stopover arrivals in 2021, 57.0% of the 26.3 million it received in 2019.
