February statistics
KRALENDIJK--Bonaire announced a milestone: preliminary results show that the island welcomed a record number of 17,218 stay-over guests last month.
February last year, the total was 16,136 and in pre-pandemic 2019 it was 13,700. This is an increase of 6.7% from 2023 and substantial growth of 25% from 2019 to 2024.
Visitors from the Netherlands remained the largest group with 44%, followed by Americans with 28.5%. Curaçao, Canada, Germany and Aruba also make a significant contribution to the tourism sector of Bonaire. So far this year the island experienced a 22% hike in airline passengers from the US compared to 2023 and one of 81% for those from Canada.
Despite these generally positive trends, there was a slight decline in the number of incoming European Dutch travellers from 7,923 in 2023 to 7,696 in 2024, which represents a drop of 2.86%. This is the result of a decrease in the number of available flights and seats on the Amsterdam-Bonaire route due to a change in the aircraft used by Dutch aviation partners and the number of planned routes flown.
Americans came mainly from New York, Florida, Pennsylvania, California and other major states. The age groups with the highest representation were those from 55 to 64 years (26.2%) and 65 or over (24%), indicating a strong interest among mature vacationers.
Dutch visitors mainly came from the provinces North Holland, South Holland and North Brabant, with the dominant age groups being those 55-64 (22%) and 45-54 (19%).
Bonaire also welcomed 54,446 cruisers on 24 ships in January.
