WILLEMSTAD — Compared to the previous high season, there will be less cruise ships this coming season. CPA blames the decline on the current repercussions of the worldwide crisis. For that matter, the decline is only temporary. The harbor company considers a substantial growth for 2010/2011.
The harbor company is expecting the arrival of 199 cruise ships between mid October and April next year. This if fifteen ships less than the season of 2008-2009. In this case, fewer ships mean less cruise tourists. The prediction for the coming season reports 347,000 passengers. 364,000 vacationers visited the island during the past season.
There was some uncertainly about the number of ships and tourists, which would be visiting the island. This was due to the manner of calculation. However, the cruise tourism will increase during the calendar year.
The oil price also plays an important role with the arrival of cruise ships. Because of the crisis, the companies lowered their prices for holidays in order to arrange for full occupancy. However, this does lead to cruise tourists with less purchasing power and them spending less on the islands. CPA "more tourists do not necessarily mean more trade."
The crisis will pass by. Shipping companies have already registered 215 visits for the high season 2010-2011. CPA will be counting on 389,000 tourists in view of the magnitude of the number of ships. "Registrations are still coming in", says the government company.
The Zuiderdam will be the first to arrive on October 18th for the coming high season. Curaçao is listed as top priority with many shipping companies, but is disadvantageous for cruises departing from Florida. The choice of Panama as embarkation is a very favorable development because Curaçao almost automatically lies on that route.
For years, the Adventure of the Seas was a regular visitor during the entire year. The ship is still the largest worldwide, but exactly for that reason, shipping company Royal Caribbean decided to replace such for the much smaller Serenade of the Seas.
The estimation is that the cruise tourism will increase again and that the shipping company will deploy a larger ship again.