No More Hotels
- mpgoede
- 5 days ago
- 2 min read
No More Hotels
17 January 2026
Worldwide, No More Hotels is an increasingly loud and frequently chanted slogan. This call is now also becoming louder in Curaçao—and rightly so. Today’s newspaper reports that tourism grew by 9% in 2025 and that in December alone, more than 80,000 tourists visited the island (Curaçao.nu, 2025).
This year, several hotels are scheduled to open their doors, including the hotel on Penstraat.
In the same newspaper, one can read that Sonesta plans to build a new hotel in Jan Thiel—an area that is already overdeveloped and where the Caracasbaai Road has effectively become a permanent traffic jam (NU.cw, 2026). Afterwards, it appears to be a takeover of an existing hotel.
I wonder where the capacity study is and how this continued growth relates to it (Antilliaans Dagblad, 2024).
In fact, one does not need to wait for such a study to know that we are overdeveloped. Besides the permanent traffic congestion, the quality of seawater at our beaches has deteriorated significantly, to put it mildly. I used to swim daily at Caracasbaai, but in recent months I no longer do so—not because parking has become difficult, but because I no longer trust the quality of the water. That this is not an isolated issue is evident from reports about water quality at Blue Bay as well (Facebook, 2026). In essence, our sewage system is simply not designed to handle the volume of waste generated by tourism.
Curaçao may currently have momentum due to the success of the Blue Wave, and USA Today may well declare it the number one island to visit, but we face a very serious problem. This cannot be denied. Just like Aruba, a moratorium is needed. We must improve what we already have and diversify.
Miguel Goede
References
Antilliaans Dagblad. (2024). Hotels volgen niet blindelings.https://antilliaansdagblad.com/nieuws-menu/31685-hotels-volgen-niet-blindelings
Curaçao.nu. (2025). 2025 was recordjaar voor toerisme Curaçao.https://www.curacao.nu/nieuws/algemeen/84614/2025-was-recordjaar-voor-toerisme-curacao
Facebook. (2026). Post on water quality at Blue Bay.https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1FmUFHrBRf/
NU.cw. (2026). Sonesta plans new hotel in Jan Thiel.https://www.facebook.com/nu.cwnieuws
USA Today. (2026). Best Caribbean island to visit.https://10best.usatoday.com/awards/best-caribbean-island-to-visit/
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