WILLEMSTAD - CASHA has taken note of the impact of the measures and the Code orange category for Curacao. Our economy in general and tourism in particular sees its possibilities being severely limited. An example of this is the development of the occupancy of the small-scale accommodations in November, the perspective for December and the impact of the measures taken.
Occupancy of accommodations in November
A comparison between the months of November and October shows a slight increase to 29% among CASHA members. Among the 26 participants in the survey, 7 accommodations achieved an occupancy rate of more than 50%, with 1 accommodation achieving a personal record of 71.11%. Of these, 6 accommodations have achieved an occupancy between 60% to 67%. 8 accommodations had no occupancy. The remaining 11 accommodations have registered between 11% and 48%. Some have chosen less income against more occupancy, with StayCation as an alternative. Around 95 reservations have been reported for December and several new reservations for 2021.
Impact of measures
In contrast, more than 121 cancellations (dates to December 8) have been reported for December. This from and as followed by the measures of curfew whereby restaurants until 8 am, "dry law" where no more alcohol could be served and finally the orange code. The consequences of this are dark and gloomy for the sector.
Opportunities for our economy
Curacao urgently needs more tourists. That is why it is very important to allow all tourists who want to spend their vacation here on Curacao. Our proposal is to allow all European countries and all American states to be admitted again upon submission of a negative PCR test result. This works for the severely affected Netherlands, so why not apply for other countries? A good example is Aruba, for example, where there are more than 10 flights from the U.S. every day and this has no influence on the number of infections. Hundreds of Belgians and Germans are willing to come despite the negative travel advice from their country.