Curacao Tourism Is Starting to Shift, With More Travelers Now Coming from the US and Canada

Curaçao’s tourism sector continued its growth trajectory in March, recording a 14% increase in stayover arrivals compared to the same period in 2024.

According to data released by the Curaçao Tourist Board, the island welcomed 8,925 more stayover visitors in March, pushing the monthly total past 70,000.

Growth was recorded across all key regions. Arrivals from the Caribbean rose by 33 percent, while South America and North America posted gains of 22 percent and 17 percent, respectively.

In terms of volume, North America and Europe remained Curaçao’s largest source markets. 

In perhaps the biggest news, for the first time, visitors from North America outnumbered those from Europe, with 28,015 arrivals from North America and 26,584 from Europe — that’s part of a broader trend that started two years ago, with a huge influx of American visitors that began with the opening of the Sandals resort.

Visitors stayed an average of 7.9 nights during March, officials said, based on immigration card data (Curacao is one of the few destinations that both collects visitor data in advance of their trips and then expedites their arrivals through immigration with high-tech kiosks at the airport. 

The Netherlands remained the single largest source of visitors in March, accounting for 22,485 arrivals — a 17 percent jump from March 2024. Of these, a little over half chose non-resort accommodations like Airbnbs (a sign of the growing import of the sharing economy to Curacao’s tourism), while 47 percent stayed at resorts. Dutch visitors stayed an average of 11.4 nights. 

The United States market continued to expand, with 22,002 visitors in March — a 17% increase year over year. This marks the first time Curaçao has recorded more than 20,000 visitors from the U.S. in a single month. American visitors stayed an average of 5.8 nights, with the largest shares coming from New York and Florida. 

Canada also posted a 17 percent increase in arrivals, totaling 6,013 visitors. Canadians stayed an average of 7.9 nights, with 59% opting for resort accommodations. Ontario and Quebec accounted for the majority of Canadian visitors, at 53 percent and 28 percent.

Between January and March 2025, Curaçao welcomed a total of 535,626 visitors, including 215,366 stayover arrivals, 12,011 day-trippers, and 308,249 cruise passengers.