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New entrepreneurs
prefer tourism and
financial services
Tourists who visited Curaçao just a few months ago may notice several changes when
they come back. There is a score of new restaurants and bars and new shops for souvenirs,
clothing and food, as well as resorts. But business people are also in for a surprise.
More companies offer business services or can provide them with the necessary products
to build a new offi ce or hotel.
The Commercial Register, held at the
Curaçao Chamber of Commerce and
Industry, shows an interesting, but
nevertheless predictable trend: experienced
and new entrepreneurs chose
mostly to register new companies in
sectors that showed the best performance
in the past eight months. On a total
of more than 1900 new businesses
169 are construction or utility companies,
122 are in the range of hotels,
restaurants and bars, 300 are food and
non-food retailers and some 300 offer
fi nancial services. The trade and hotel
sector as well as the fi nancial services
sectors remain key engines for the island
economy with each nearly 5,500
companies registered. Still, the largest
group of businesses registered is that
of the international companies, due
to the many incentives Curaçao offers
them, such as tax advantages and other
support.
Other sectors show some growth as
well. Curaçao has nine new agriculture
businesses, one fi shing company, 41
new manufacturing companies. Nearly
80 people are mortgage brokers, asset
managers or something else in the
banking sector.
There were very few companies that
went bankrupt, but 2,173 companies
requested to be removed from the
register of the Chamber, mostly local
companies. On balance, Curaçao had
30,467 registered businesses by the
end of August compared to 30,833 on
January 1st.
SECTOR NEW SINCE JANUARY TOTAL END OF AUGUST
Agriculture and fishing 11 128
Mining 0 0
Manufacturing and industry 50 767
Utilities 1 18
Construction and housing 169 1,608
Wholesale, retail, trade, hotels, restaurants, repair 497 5,431
Transport and communication 79 828
Financial and business services 489 5,508
Other services 213 2,169
International businesses 408 14,009
30,466 |
