The office of Tourism, A.T.A informs that in March our destination received a total of 95,912 visitors “stay-over”. Compared with March of 2019, which was the last normal year for tourism, one can see that Aruba has recovered 90% of the amount of visitors received in March 2019.
The 3 markets that shined the most in the amount of tourists that visited in March of 2022 as well as the rate of recovery Is United States with 78,358 visitors who represent a 94% recovery compared to March of 2019, The Netherlands with 4,229 visitors which represents a 119% recovery compared to March of 2019, and lastly Colombia with 1,932 visitors which represents a 91% recovery in comparison to March 2019.
2022 started with a growth that was stronger and more stable than 2021, even though in January we saw the recovery fall in comparison to the last 8 months of 2021. However, the recovery in February and March was extremely positive. If you compare March 2022 to March 2021, you can see a growth of 95.9% in the amount of stay-over visitors, which went from 48,967 to 95, 912.
If you compare March 2022 with March of 2021, you can see once again that the 3 markets that grew the most in regards to the amount of stay-over visitors is United States with 34,979 representing a growth of 80.6%, The Netherlands with 2,649 representing a growth of 167.7% and Colombia with 725, representing a growth of 60.1%.
North America remains the strongest market in Aruba and in March of 2022 a total of 82,436 visitors from North America came to Aruba. This is about 85.9% of the stayover visitors. Europe was responsible for 6.5 percent of the total visitors in Aruba, Latin America responsible for 5.2 percent, leaving a 2.3 percent of visitors from other parts of the world.
According to Central Bank of Aruba the so called ‘Tourism Credits’ (formerly known as “Tourism Receipts” for the first, second and 3 kwarter of 2021, there was a contribution of 2,120.10 million Aruban Florins in our economy, with a growth of 48% compared to the same season in 2020. This is naturally owed to the fact that the global pandemic of COVID-19, during which Aruba also had to close its borders temporarily between mid March 2020 to end of July 2020.