Captain Don's renamed?

[BigDaddyGlad]

Saw a photo on Reddit... would the new owners really be so obtuse as to erase the name of the guy who discovered Bonaire as "Diver's Paradise?"

 

[tursiops]

Name has not changed on Facebook or their website.

 

[wwguy]

LOL, I'm pretty sure the sky is not falling at Habitat.

The resort just finished a major and long-overdue upgrade of the street entry and parking area, increasing the number of parking spaces from 70 to 107 spaces. They've also moved employee parking to a designated area outside of the resort.

The resort sign refresh was part of that work, and also a logical opportunity to introduce their new modernized logo and brand refresh intended to attract more than just divers to the resort.

Basically it's not Captain Don's legacy fading away so much as continuing to recognize and promote it while pursuing new eco-tourism business too. Personally I think it's a smart business move, and the new sign looks great!

I found the image of the printed press release below elsewhere on the web this morning. (It wasn't sent to me personally.)

 

[scubadada]

This rebranding has been going on all around Bonaire and is part of Bonaire's development plan. See Chogogo. Bonaire wants to expand the visitor base from mainly divers to a much more diverse group of vacationers. My wife and I recently returned from a 2 week visit to the island. The construction is going full blast all around.

 

[boulderjohn]

This rebranding has been going on all around Bonaire and is part of Bonaire's development plan. See Chogogo. Bonaire wants to expand the visitor base from mainly divers to a much more diverse group of vacationers. My wife and I recently returned from a 2 week visit to the island. The construction is going full blast all around.

We are friends with a couple (late 70s) who leave Colorado for two months each winter, heading to warmer climes. They do not dive--the wife is barely able to snorkel--hand holding required. Their principle activity is golf. In the past few years they have spent the winter in Florida, Puerto Rico, and Hawai'i. I almost fainted when they told me they were going to spend this winter in Bonaire. When I talked to the husband, he seemed to be totally unaware that the place is known for diving and little else.

Is it really possible that the island had rebranded itself enough to make it a suitable for such people?

 

[tursiops]

This rebranding has been going on all around Bonaire and is part of Bonaire's development plan. See Chogogo. Bonaire wants to expand the visitor base from mainly divers to a much more diverse group of vacationers. My wife and I recently returned from a 2 week visit to the island. The construction is going full blast all around.

Something doesn't add up. TCB statistics show that US visitors -- who are mostly divers -- are maybe one-quarter of the visitors. The bulk of the visitors are Dutch, who are mostly NOT divers.

So the :visitor base" is already mostly non-divers.

 

[scubadada]

We are friends with a couple (late 70s) who leave Colorado for two months each winter, heading to warmer climes. They do not dive--the wife is barely able to snorkel--hand holding required. Their principle activity is golf. In the past few years they have spent the winter in Florida, Puerto Rico, and Hawai'i. I almost fainted when they told me they were going to spend this winter in Bonaire. When I talked to the husband, he seemed to be totally unaware that the place is known for diving and little else.

Is it really possible that the island had rebranded itself enough to make it a suitable for such people?

There is a unique golf course on Bonaire

Piedra So Golf Course: Bonaire’s unique 18-hole golf course | Mi Casa Bonaire

Golfing on Bonaire’s unique ecological course: A special way to play, with breathtaking views of the Caribbean

micasabonaire.com

 

[wwguy]

Something doesn't add up. TCB statistics show that US visitors -- who are mostly divers -- are maybe one-quarter of the visitors. The bulk of the visitors are Dutch, who are mostly NOT divers.

So the :visitor base" is already mostly non-divers.

+1 for this. TCB's news release summarizing 2024 visitor statistics—the most recent full year for which tourism data is available—states that:

"The primary reasons for visiting Bonaire were vacation (54%), followed by diving (13.5%), business (7.4%), and visiting friends and family (8%)."

"Dutch visitors formed the largest group, accounting for 45% of total visitors. American visitors followed with 25%, while visitors from Curaçao made up 13%. Other significant contributors included visitors from Germany (2%), Aruba (2%), Canada (3%), and Belgium (1%)."

"Dutch visitors predominantly visited for vacation (67%) and stayed for an average of 12 nights."

"American visitors, on the other hand, were more evenly split between diving (47%) and vacation (39%), with a shorter average stay of 7.9 nights."

The Bonaire Sustainable Urban Development Carrying Capacity Study, published in 2023 outlines many of the challenges Bonaire is facing as the local population, tourism industry growth and diversity, tourist visits, and real estate prices all continue to increase exponentially year after year. This tiny desert island struggles with limited land, infrastructure, and energy etc. available to sustain the current situation, much less continued future growth.

When you read the study it's quickly apparent that dive-specific tourism on the island today is just one aspect of the island's overall tourism industry. It's also probably one of the least challenging to manage as dive tourism doesn't appear to be growing at anywhere near the exponential rate of other growth on the island—tourism or otherwise.

The excerpt below is quoted from the introduction to the Tourism Development section of the above linked study, which starts on page 18:

"The demand for Bonaire as a tourist destination has tripled over the last two decades. The sector initially developed based on the scuba diving market but has also started to attract the non-dive market over the years.

While Bonaire received 59,000 non-resident air arrivals in 1995 (Tourism Planning and Research Associates 1997), this increased to 157,800 in 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic caused a drop in arrivals in 2020 and 2021. In 2022, Bonaire received 170,194 non-resident international visitors by air. The accommodation supply kept pace with the growing demand, and the total room inventory increased from 1,122 in 1997 to
2,182 in 2021.

Also, more cruise lines started to include Bonaire in their itineraries and, over the years, with larger ships. The average number of passengers per ship increased from 1,590 in 2015 to 2,548 in 2019. In 1995 just 11,000 cruise passengers visited Bonaire. In 2019—24 years later—this had increased to 457,700 passengers (CBS 2021). In 2022, Bonaire received 304,298 cruise passengers."

The human-caused changes on the island—both above and below the surface—since we first began visiting in 1997 are staggering, and also saddening too. But Bonaire is still a unique and attractive destination, as clearly evidenced by the steady growth in both local population and tourist visits.

IMHO the study is an interesting and somewhat insightful read, for those that have the time and interest.

 

[tursiops]

+1 for this. TCB's news release summarizing 2024 visitor statistics—the most recent full year for which tourism data is available—states that:

"The primary reasons for visiting Bonaire were vacation (54%), followed by diving (13.5%), business (7.4%), and visiting friends and family (8%)."

"Dutch visitors formed the largest group, accounting for 45% of total visitors. American visitors followed with 25%, while visitors from Curaçao made up 13%. Other significant contributors included visitors from Germany (2%), Aruba (2%), Canada (3%), and Belgium (1%)."

"Dutch visitors predominantly visited for vacation (67%) and stayed for an average of 12 nights."

"American visitors, on the other hand, were more evenly split between diving (47%) and vacation (39%), with a shorter average stay of 7.9 nights."

The Bonaire Sustainable Urban Development Carrying Capacity Study, published in 2023 outlines many of the challenges Bonaire is facing as the local population, tourism industry growth and diversity, tourist visits, and real estate prices all continue to increase exponentially year after year. This tiny desert island struggles with limited land, infrastructure, and energy etc. available to sustain the current situation, much less continued future growth.

When you read the study it's quickly apparent that dive-specific tourism on the island today is just one aspect of the island's overall tourism industry. It's also probably one of the least challenging to manage as dive tourism doesn't appear to be growing at anywhere near the exponential rate of other growth on the island—tourism or otherwise.

The excerpt below is quoted from the introduction to the Tourism Development section of the above linked study, which starts on page 18:

"The demand for Bonaire as a tourist destination has tripled over the last two decades. The sector initially developed based on the scuba diving market but has also started to attract the non-dive market over the years.

While Bonaire received 59,000 non-resident air arrivals in 1995 (Tourism Planning and Research Associates 1997), this increased to 157,800 in 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic caused a drop in arrivals in 2020 and 2021. In 2022, Bonaire received 170,194 non-resident international visitors by air. The accommodation supply kept pace with the growing demand, and the total room inventory increased from 1,122 in 1997 to
2,182 in 2021.

Also, more cruise lines started to include Bonaire in their itineraries and, over the years, with larger ships. The average number of passengers per ship increased from 1,590 in 2015 to 2,548 in 2019. In 1995 just 11,000 cruise passengers visited Bonaire. In 2019—24 years later—this had increased to 457,700 passengers (CBS 2021). In 2022, Bonaire received 304,298 cruise passengers."

The human-caused changes on the island—both above and below the surface—since we first began visiting in 1997 are staggering, and also saddening too. But Bonaire is still a unique and attractive destination, as clearly evidenced by the steady growth in both local population and tourist visits.

IMHO the study is an interesting and somewhat insightful read, for those that have the time and interest.

Good post. What is missing to me is analysis of visitor type versus value, which is some combination of Positive impact versus Negative impact. Cruise ship visitors, for example, contribute not much money (trinkets, tours, snacks; they tend to eat on the boat) to a very small segment of he population (government, tour operators), but their ships have demonstrable negative impact on the reef and the touring is aggravating to locals and visitors alike. All that TCB seems to do is look at monetary positive impacts.