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Curaçao's Investment Climate
Since Curaçao is in a relatively early stage of aggressively
promoting its international development, many opportunities exist
for investors and entrepreneurs and these opportunities should only
increase in the coming years. Many of these opportunities will arise
from successful tourism promotion.
Other opportunities will arise as a result of continued privatization.
Most of the opportunities, however, will be created from the vision
of entrepreneurs and the synergies created by the cluster strategy.
The greatest growth is expected to be in those sectors that leverage
Curaçao's comparative advantages and focus on high value-added
services catering to an international market.
Education
Business Training
Financial Services
Sophisticated
Niche Tourism
Culture, Arts
and Entertainment
Transportation
and Logistics
IT/Ecommerce
Residential,
Commercial and Retail
Tourism
will drive the economic growth
Tourism, in particular, is growing exponentially as the professional
and systematic promotional campaign of the Curaçao Tourism
Board begins to gain traction in the North American market. Curaçao's
tourism budget for marketing and promoting the destination in North
American and European markets has increased substantially, thanks
to project assistance from the Dutch government. Last year, traffic
from North America grew by 8% in six of the eight months from January
through August. As tourism demand increases, the opportunities to
develop hotels and recreation facilities abound and Curaçao
has a great deal of unexploited real estate.
Curaçao has long been a favorite destination for Europeans,
South Americans, and many Caribbean residents, the focus now is attracting
visitors from the U.S. and Canada. Curaçao averages 260,000
stay over visitors a year and 320,000 cruise passengers. According
to the Curaçao Tourism Board, Curaçao is not promoting
itself as a mass market, rather, the immediate goal is to double
the 40,000 North American visitors to 80,000 a year by tapping into
niche markets such as Jewish heritage and gay travel". The general
lack of awareness of Curaçao in the North American market is
slowly giving way to growing recognition. More importantly a new
immigration card asks departing visitors to comment about their stay
in Curaçao; since September 2003, 10,000 visitors have filled
out the card, and 97% said they would recommend Curaçao to
others.
Curaçao's Investment Climate is Favorable
Curaçao offers investors a relatively safe and positive environment
in which to do business:
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a stable political environment and long
democratic tradition whose integrity is guaranteed by our membership
of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, |
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a brand-new civil code that has done away
with many of the awkward differences between our original Continental
code and the Anglo-Saxon code, and have made our system and
that of Great Britain and the U.S. more comparable and more
compatible, |
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A modern financial and business services
infrastructure including local offices and representations of
most major banks, accounting firms, law offices and consultancies,
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An expanding tourism infrastructure, featuring
the likes of Hilton and Marriott, with Hyatt working to build
a resort and golf course on the eastern side of the island targeted
at the upscale tourist market, |
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The second biggest seaport in the Kingdom
of the Netherlands, after Rotterdam, and definitely one of the
two or three most modern and efficient ports in the wider Caribbean,
featuring among others the best mooring facility for latest
generation mega cruise ships, |
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an airport in the process being modernized
into one of the very best and safest by 2006, |
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Historic Willemstad, one of UNESCO's 80-something
World Heritage sites, the delight of all visitors |
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Traditionally low inflation, always under
five percent per year. |
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