Despite the island’s growing popularity amongst tourists and continued strong investment interest in hotels and attractions, the Dutch Antillean nation of Curaçao is not resting on the laurels of its post-pandemic success.

“I am working on new experiences,” Ruisandro Cijntje, Curaçao’s Minister of Economic Development, says, explaining that cultural tourism, which features visitors connecting with the people and history of the destination, is critical.

Indeed, he says, the future success of the destination resides with delivering experiences that are wide and varied.

The Curaçao Tourist Board (CTB), which continues to witness strong performance from its top three main markets, The Netherlands, the US, and Colombia – as well as Canada – recently reported 400,576 stayover visitor arrivals in the first 10 months of 2022, an additional 19,586 stayover visitors compared to the same period in 2019.

CTB is hopeful the island would achieve a record-breaking number of stayover arrivals in 2022, having previously registered 467,538 and 463,684 stayover arrivals in 2015 and 2019, respectively.

Doubling down on the importance of promoting experiential tourism, Cijntje believes that “sand, sea and sun is not selling anymore” and that building connections with visitors is a priority.

“Curaçao is special, it has its own flavour. Our people are amazing. We have a history to tell, we have cuisine and I think we have a unique product,” he said.

Highlighting the island’s balance between outdoor activity, nature, beach, and diving, coupled with excellent service and hospitality, Curaçao differentiates itself from its competitors, he said.

In summer 2022 Curaçao became home to Sandals Resorts International, which debuted the 351-room Sandals Royal Curaçao on the island.