KRALENDIJK - The number of air passengers to and from Bonaire, Saba and St. Eustatius was more than halved last year. This is reported by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Many flights have been canceled to prevent the virus from spreading.
In recent months Bonaire has tried to open up to tourism again, but had to take measures again due to outbreaks in the nearby islands of Curaçao and Aruba.
In 2020, 183,000 passengers took a plane to and from these islands in the Caribbean Netherlands, a decrease of 60 percent compared to a year earlier. The number of flights has been halved. The number of passengers on Bonaire decreased by 58 percent, on St. Eustatius by almost 69 percent and on Saba by more than 70 percent.
Nine out of ten passengers flew at Flamingo Airport, Bonaire's airport. Saba and Sint Eustatius have banned many flights since April 2020. The visitors who are allowed to come must first be quarantined.
Bonaire has tried to open more to tourism in recent months. But the island had to take precautionary measures in the last quarter of 2020 due to, among other things, waves of contamination on Curaçao and Aruba, which meant that visitor numbers remained low.
Halfway through January, Bonaire has opened its borders again to tourists from the U.S. and Canada. But as Lieutenant-Governor Edison Rijna said on the occasion: "A long lead time is needed before the flights actually come".
Now, the island is still waiting for more tourists. All three islands started a vaccination program on Monday and hope to receive more tourists as a result. Saba has already indicated that it hopes to be able to reopen to air traffic in May.