WILLEMSTAD- November 1, 2022 – Recently the Curaçao Tourist Board (CTB) organized a tourism
summit titled: ‘The impact of tourism on the economy of Curaçao’. Those participating at the summit were
the ministers, representatives of the economic committee of the Curaçao Parliament and secretary generals of
the different ministries. The objective was to present the different activities that CTB is executing with
regards to marketing in order to attract more visitors to our island, and tourism product development
activities thereby contributing to a better experience for the tourists who choose to visit us. Furthermore, the
goal was to show the impact of the tourism sector as an important economic pillar for our island, as well as
the challenges, opportunities, and targets for 2023. The opening words were made by Minister of Economic
Development, Mr. Ruisandro Cijntje while CTB Counterpart Director, Mr. Muryad de Bruin and Business
Intelligence Manager, Mrs. Christine Campagnard led the participants through the presentation. The
participants also contributed with their questions and ideas on both marketing and the tourism product
development.
During the summit, we showed how we gather, analyze and ultimately use data to executed our 2022 plans
for the regions of North America, Europe, South America, and the Caribbean. Also, we discussed the
current international trends that affect the travel industry and looked at the type of tourists who visit our
island, where they come from, their age, the type of accommodation they choose, how long they stay, how
much they spend during their visit, this information was compared to the pre-pandemic year of 2019 and last
year. Furthermore, the airlift schedules for the several target markets were also shared and we discussed the
different challenges and opportunities with airlift to Curaçao.
Regarding the tourism product development, some actions were presented which are being executed to
enhance the experience of tourists, such as the auditing and certification program for establishments in the
tourism sector, the ‘Curaçao is dushi and clean’ program, and the progress in construction work at the
recreation areas of Marie Pampoen and Zakito, as well as the introduction of tourism in schools and the
training sessions for groups in the tourism industry and for the unemployed.
At the end of the summit, CTB thanked the attendees for their participation and emphasized the great
collaboration with the several ministries in executing the different actions. CTB will continue its joint efforts
together with private sector partners to promote our country as the number 1 tourist destination in the
Caribbean.
