WILLEMSTAD (CTB) -- Curaçao North Sea Jazz festival continues to contribute to the growth of our Tourism. In September The Curaçao Tourist Board (CTB) reports a direct contribution of 37.4 million dollars into the economy, this is a 7% growth compared to last year’s contribution of 34.8 million dollars. The economic impact per region is as follows:
| Region | Sep-15 | Sep-14 | % Change |
| Europe | 15.7 | 15 | 5% |
| South America | 12.5 | 12.7 | -2% |
| North America | 5.6 | 4.3 | 30% |
| Caribbean | 2.1 | 1.7 | 24% |
| Others | 1.5 | 1.1 | 36% |
| Total | 37.4 | 34.8 | 7% |
| Figures reported are in millions of dollars | |||
The number of recorded arrivals for the month of September shows an increase of 6% which brings the total number of stay over arrivals to 39.907 visitors, compared to last year where the CTB recorded 37.762 visitors.
Curaçao North Sea Jazz Arrivals
Most of the overseas visitors that attended the festival arrived between Wednesday September 2nd and Friday September 4th, the days prior to the Jazz event. Last year the CNSJF was held in August. The shift of the festival days reflects back in positive visitor arrivals performance. Even though we see a fall in visitor arrivals from Venezuela, the event still caused for an increase in arrivals in the month of September. Due to the effect of an international event of this magnitude CTB will focus on attracting international events in the periods that the Island has the potential to achieve a substantial growth.
The increase in traffic for the Jazz festival is due to the growth in arrivals from Aruba, Colombia and Suriname. These countries have showed their support for the festival over the past years and this year was no exception. An analysis of the three travel days prior to the festival shows an increase of 273% more Arubans compared to last year where there was no on-island activity. Because of the festival we have registered at least 400 more Aruban visitors. These same travel dates also shows 190% growth from Colombia and 114% growth from Suriname.
The table below shows the top 6 countries with the best increase of arrivals during the analyzed days.
| Stay over Arrivals | Sep 2nd, 3rd & 4th, 2015 | Sep 2nd, 3rd & 4th, 2014 | % Change |
| Aruba | 563 | 151 | 273% |
| Colombia | 296 | 102 | 190% |
| Suriname | 509 | 238 | 114% |
| United states | 596 | 295 | 102% |
| Venezuela | 1,107 | 836 | 32% |
| Netherlands | 1,148 | 952 | 21% |
| Summary | 4,219 | 2,574 | 64% |
| Table Source: CTB/Immigration Embarkation Cards, sort from largest to smaller performance overview on 2nd, 3rd and 4th of September | |||
Stay Over Arrivals From Regions
Visitor arrivals from the European region grew by 3% in September 2015. The region provided a total of 15.205 stay over arrivals compared to the 14.762 recorded in September 2014. The main producing country, The Netherlands recorded a 6% increase compared to 2014.
The North American region was up by 29.65% in September 2015. From 3.997stay over visitors last year to 5.182 stay over visitors in September 2015. A 21% increase is registered from the United States which represents in absolute figures 4.547 stay over arrivals. The combined public and private sector commitment in marketing efforts for the remainder of the year will continue to book a positive outcome from the USA.
The CTB is committed to achieving strong and solid year-round growth out of this market that will lead to the targeted increase in airlift. The year-round service from Toronto with Air Canada rouge continues recording exponential growth. A total of 635 Canadians are registered in September. This is a 150% increase in visitor arrivals from Canada.
The South American market marked a 3.22% decrease in September 2015, with a total of 14.325 stay over arrivals compared to 14.801 in 2014. The Venezuelan country marked a 9% decrease in stay over arrivals in September 2015. By monitoring the situation in Venezuela closely over the past months, the CTB had already foreseen a decrease in arrivals and prepared to step up marketing efforts in Colombia. Traffic from Colombia grew by 26% in September as a result of the recent elimination of the visa requirement.
Year To Date: Stay Over Arrivals And Economic Impact
In the first nine months of the year the number of stay over arrivals visiting Curaçao grew by 4% from 325.167 to 337.594. An additional 12.427 stay over arrivals was registered with growth coming from the North American and the European region. The regions grew respectively by 21 and 4% The South American and Caribbean region recorded a neutral growth of 0% during the first nine months. The market share from the main regions is North America (17.6%), South America (28.1%), Caribbean (7.5%), Europe (42.5%) and others (4.3%).
Utilizing the ‘Turistika Model’, CTB and MEO calculated that during the first nine months of 2015 the tourism sector was directly responsible for generating $323.1 million US dollars into the local economy. There has been an increase in direct spending where last year the first nine months of 2014 visitors generated a total of $302.1 million US dollars into the economy. European visitors are responsible for 45.8% of the total expenditure on island. Altogether Europeans spent a total $148.1 million US dollars. They were followed by the South Americans who spent $82.2 million US dollars and the North Americans who spent $64.6 million US dollars. The Caribbean visitors spent a total of $18.0 million US dollars in 2015.
As stated previously, the ‘Turistika Model’ shows a total direct spending from January through September 2015 of $323.1 million US dollars. This direct spending of the overall visitors transpired mainly in the accommodation, food & beverage, shopping activities, transportation sector and direct taxes. The share from the total spending is respectively 36.3%, 24.1%, 22.7%, 9.3% and 7.6%.
