Please note: You can find the full presentations here.

The tourism sector has become the primary contributor to the gross domestic product (GDP), employment, and foreign exchange earnings in Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao (the ABC-islands). Aruba had already experienced this phenomenon a few decades earlier, and now it’s also the case for Bonaire and Curacao. This has led to a surge in construction activities on the islands. Consequently, the economies have become heavily reliant on tourism and vulnerable to developments therein. Perhaps too reliant?

With the growth and strong dependence on tourism come challenges for the economic and social infrastructure, housing, congestion, environment, etc. How do we address these challenges now and in the future? How does Aruba handle them, and what can Bonaire and Curacao learn from it?

The central question of this symposium is: where do we stand with tourism, what is its impact on the economy and our society; where are we headed with tourism in the future, what challenges do we see in the next five years, how can we make tourism sustainable, how can residents be part of the tourism success, and what tourism policy will we implement on our island?

Program for April 12, 2024, at the auditorium of Central Bank of Curaçao and Sint Maarten.

Time	Organization	Speker
8:30	Registration & coffee
9:00	Opening -President of the Association of Dutch Caribbean Economists	Leo Rigaud
	Member of ADCE	Rob van den Bergh
	Central Bank of Aruba	Elmelynn Croes
	Central Bureau of Statistics Dutch Caribbean	Henk van de Velde
	Central Bank of Curaçao and Sint Maarten	Candice Henriquez
10:20	PANEL DISCUSSION led by Lysette Cova
10:45	Break
11:00	Aruba Tourism  Authority  (pre-recorded interview)	Ronella Croes
	Directorate Physical Development and Planning/ Economic Affairs.	Richard Arends
	Tourism expert for Curacao / Co-author of ‘The strategic Tourism Destination Development plan’	Dino Daal
12:15	PANEL DISCUSSION led by Dennis Arrindell
12:45	Closing remarks	Leo Rigaud

You can find the full presentations here.