Occupancy levels continue to remain stable
Willemstad, 14 November 2022 – CHATA & CASHA publish monthly results of hotel, alternative accommodations, car rentals and dive school results through which the associations present a balanced overview of Curaçao’s tourism & hospitality sector’s performance and recovery.
CASHA presents occupancy figures for September 2022
September was a stormy month for CASHA members, regardless of this, most members look back on a positive month. The accommodations reported an average occupancy of 67%, which is almost the same compared to the 68% in August. Before COVID, September was invariably a better month than August for the smaller accommodations; this is because families often choose to stay in a resort. Last year, it was the first time that September did not score better than in August, however, comparing September with last year September, an increase of 10% was noted. The storm and rainy days have caused cancellations, mainly bookings via OTAs that allow last minute cancellations. September used to be the month of last-minute bookings until 2019, however due to the high costs of tickets combined with the prospect of a difficult financial winter in Europe, almost no last-minute bookings have been reported. Diving schools and attractions were slightly more affected by the bad weather as they achieved turnover figures of 57% and 60% respectively. The car rental companies who performed with 75% of rentals now faced 5% less in August than in September 2021. It has also been indicated that the diving schools are suffering enormously from the explosive growth of illegal diving schools.
CHATA presents occupancy figures for September 2022
In September of 2022, Curaçao had a hotel occupancy of 65,8%, in comparison to 2021 (66,4%) this is a slight decrease of -1,0%. However, if we look at the occupancy data pre-COVID (September 2019), it shows a decrease of -1,5%. The September average daily rate also increased with +12,6% compared to 2021, to $191,53 and compared to September of 2019, the ADR increased by +35,2%. As for the revenue per available room (RevPar), numbers indicate a significant increase of +11,5% compared to 2021; from $113,05 in 2021 to $126,02 in 2022. Compared to the pre-COVID data, the revenue per available room increased with +33,5%. The recovery for the month of September compared to 2019 was 98,5%. The total year to date recovery for Curaçao for 2022 compared to 2019 is 104,8%, while the recovery of the same period for 2021 vs. 2019 was 58,4%.
The hospitality and tourism sector recovery continues a positive trend through the arrival of visitors. However, external influences of rising prices and the war in Ukraine continue to influence the future worldwide outlook, causing CHATA and CASHA to remain cautiously optimistic about the future of the sector and the remaining months of 2022.
