by Brian Major
Last updated: 11:56 AM ET, Wed January 11, 2023
Two years after the global pandemic's outset, Curaçao posted its best-ever travel year in terms of overnight visitors, propelled in part by record-breaking visitation from U.S. residents.
Curaçao Tourist Board (CTB) officials report the southern Caribbean country hosted 489,558 overnight, land-based visitors in 2022, breaking the record of 467,538 overnight visitors established in 2015.
The 2022 totals far exceeded CTB officials' original target of 375,000 overnight visitors for the year. Curaçao's most active month in terms of visitors was July 2022, during which was the country hosted 48,246 overnight arrivals.
Curaçao's strong 2022 arrivals were driven in part by U.S. vacationers. The country welcomed 93,428 overnight visitors from the U.S. in 2022, the first time Curaçao has drawn more than 90,000 American travelers in one year, according to CTB officials.
Those travelers were attracted in part by several new island resorts. The Sandals Royal Curaçao and Zoëtry Curaçao Resort & Spa opened in 2022, while the Mangrove Beach Corendon Curacao All-Inclusive Resort launched in September 2021 and the Wyndham-branded Kunuku Aqua Resort opened in 2020.
Through December of 2022, Curaçao hosted 44,923 overnight arrivals, representing "a 101 percent recovery rate" compared with December 2019, said CTB officials in a statement.
December 2022 is also shaping up as "the best-performing month from the United States of America," said CTB officials, with 10,411 overnight arrivals, surpassing the July 2022 total of 10,208 U.S. visitors.
North American travelers spent an average of 7.6 nights in Curaçao in December, said officials. The southern Caribbean nation also hosted 43 cruise ship calls carrying 95,680 passengers in December 2022.
CTB officials added that 2022's "splendid" tourism performance "brings the comparison to pre-pandemic levels to an end." Officials are targeting "at least one half-million [overnight] visitors by end of this year."
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