CBS: In 2015 tourism on Saba and St Eustatius was stable – updated

There was little change in the number of tourists visiting Saba and St Eustatius in 2015, compared to the previous year. Some 11 thousand tourists landed at St Eustatius’ airport: 2 thousand day tourists and 9 thousand tourists who stayed overnight. Of the latter, 41 percent spent more than a week on the island. Furthermore, the port of St Eustatius received 3.8 thousand tourists, including the visit of a small cruise ship.

Saba was visited by 9,6 thousand air passengers who came as tourists in 2015, of whom 2 thousand spent a day on the island. Almost a quarter of the tourist who stayed overnight on the island remained for more than a week. Another 4 thousand tourists landed at Saba in pleasure craft. What distinguishes Saba from St Eustatius is that it has two ferries to and from St Maarten. In 2015 these ferries brought 6.8 thousand passengers from St Maarten, many of them tourists.

More tourists visiting Bonaire in 2015
The number of cruise passengers calling at the port of Bonaire increased by 47 percent in 2015. There was also a 6 percent rise in the number of tourists and business travellers arriving by airplane. Saba and St Eustatius received about the same number of tourists as in 2014, according to Statistics Netherlands (CBS).
In 2015, 230 thousand cruise passengers visited Bonaire. The year before there were 156 thousand visitors. With the exception of the period May-July 2015, there were more visiting cruise passengers than the year before. This was true for August, September and October as well, which had seen few cruise ships calling in the two preceding years.

Flamingo Airport welcomed 137 thousand tourists and business travellers, nearly 8 thousand more than in 2014. One in ten visited Bonaire for one day only. Over a third stayed longer than a week. Nearly 3 thousand tourists called at the ports of the island in pleasure craft, the same number as in 2014.

Press release RCN