WILLEMSTAD - 'It has already been said by companies, but also by the Chamber of Commerce, that they are disappointed in the government. We are more than disappointed, we are furious. The government does nothing for the private sector. Nothing is being done to help businesses.”
That is what deputy chairman of the Curaçao Business Association (VBC), Reinald Curiel, said on Wednesday during a joint press conference with catering and tourism associations in Curaçao.
For almost an hour and a half, various representatives of private sector organizations explained what the government is doing wrong about the corona pandemic. The reason for the anger is, among other things, that, according to the speakers, Curaçao is "completely pricing itself out of the market" by announcing too many measures for tourists who want to visit the island.
“Tourists who want to go to Aruba are welcomed with open arms. Both from the Netherlands and from America," says Maria-Helena Seferina-Rojas, managing director of the Curaçao Hospitality & Tourism Association CHATA.
Antigen test
"But a Dutch tourist can only come to Curaçao if he or she has been vaccinated twice, has done a PCR test before departure and takes an antigen test three days after arrival," she says. Before boarding the plane, the tourist must have paid for the antigen test. “But initially that was only possible with a credit card and that caused a lot of problems. Now it can also be paid at the airport, but there is always a huge queue. Why does Curaçao treat the tourist so badly?”, asks Zeno Circkens, director of the Curaçao Restaurant Association (CRA).
The list of complaints from the Curaçao business community is long. For example, Reiland Curiel of the influential VBC is concerned about the fact that the private sector is not being heard by the government. "We've been asking for at least a conversation with the government's crisis team for over a year, but we're just being ignored."
Vaccination
As a result, according to Curiel, all kinds of measures are being taken in which, according to him, "the business owners are not taken into account at all". For example, they are disappointed with the vaccination policy, which, according to them, only considers the rights of people who do not want to be vaccinated. Curiel: “Of course everyone has the right to choose whether or not to get vaccinated. But that does have consequences for us, and I'm not hearing about that from the government.'
A special guest during the press conference is lawyer Berti Braam, who states that an employer should not force anyone to be vaccinated. "But I think an employer can decide not to allow an employee who has not been vaccinated into the workplace and not to pay a salary." According to the business owners, the government has said nothing about this so far.
Courage
Curiel wonders if it's the government's lack of courage or if they just don't know. "The fact is that the private sector is not being heard. And that means we can't grow.' According to him, the business owners are 'tired'. “We want to work, we want to rebuild the country. But we are fed up with this policy."