KRALENDIJK – The average hotel occupancy on Bonaire in the last quarter of 2023 is lower than desired. 

This was revealed in the presentation of the Bonaire Hotel & Tourism Association (BONHATA) during TCB’s Quarterly Tourism Meeting. BONHATA represents about 48% of the available rooms on the island.

According to BONHATA director Veroesjka de Windt, this does not necessarily mean that tourism is not developing favourably. “The number of rooms in the last years has simply grown faster than the number of tourists visiting the island. This automatically leads to lower occupancy,” said De Windt.

Lowest of ABC islands

The most recent occupancy rate, around 61%, is below the internationally recognized healthy occupancy rate of 70%. With this, Bonaire is currently performing worse than neighbouring islands Aruba and Curaçao, where not only is there a higher average occupancy rate, but also a higher price achieved per night, per room.