WILLEMSTAD - After extensive interviews and evaluations conducted by the Board of Trustees of the Curaçao Tourism Development Foundation CTDF, Muryad de Bruin has been appointed Counterpart Statutory Director of the Curaçao Tourist Board, CTB and Jacqueline Sybrandy-Held as Regional Manager North America. They are already at work.
De Bruin is responsible for providing strategic direction and leading the destination management and marketing organization. He acts as an advisor to the government on tourism and represents Curaçao on all tourism-specific platforms, both locally and abroad.
De Bruin was born and raised in Curaçao and well versed in the island's tourism endeavors. For the past six and a half years he has held Regional Manager positions at the Curaçao Tourist. Most recently, he was Regional Manager Europe, where De Bruin worked from the office of the VVV in The Hague. Two years earlier, he had the same role for the South American market, where De Bruin was ultimately responsible for the growth of tourism from those regions.
North America
Jacqueline Sybrandy-Held oversees the development and implementation of sales and branding efforts for the CTB in the North American market. In her role she is responsible for the growth of the number of arrivals in tourism, managing the regional team and providing (statistical) management information.
Sybrandy-Held is well-suited for the role, according to the organization, having worked in the island's tourism industry since 2008, when she began her career at Floris Suite Hotel. Since then, she has worked at several hotels in Curacao in various departments including reservations, convention services, events, sales and marketing and most recently as a general manager at Blue Bay Hotel and Services.
Before that she was Director of Sales & Marketing at Baoase Luxury Resort, during which time room revenue increased more than 150 percent and exceeded budgeted revenue. The occupation rose and the average daily rate also rose in the five years that she held sway.
Record month
The announcements for these two positions come as the island's tourism continues to gain momentum, coming off a record-breaking July. The CTB reported 48,246 resident visitors for the month – the first time 48,000 visitors were recorded in the summer months. That's more than the July 2019 arrivals with nearly 11,000 additional visitors.
The US market outperformed all previous registered visitor numbers with a total of 10,207 US visitors in July, a record number of US visitors in one month.
“Seeing the US growth numbers and the upward pattern is incredibly inspiring and a direction I don't intend to see slowing down if I step into this role,” Sybrandy-Held said.
“My 14 years of tourism-specific sales and marketing experience has always been largely focused on the North American market and I look forward to focusing my efforts there to continue pursuing record numbers for the island.”