Curaçao Tourist Board officials report that tourism facilities in Curaçao are fully operational after Hurricane Ivan passed some considerable distance to the north of the island during the night of September 8th.The destination’s leading hotels including the Marriott Resort and Emerald Casino, the Hilton Hotel, Super Clubs Breezes, The Avila Beach Hotel, Floris Suites and Kura Hulanda hotels are all fully operational and are accepting reservations. Both the Marriott and Hilton report some minimal beach erosion which will soon be repaired. The Seaquarium also reported no damage. Some remote beaches on the north western part of the island suffered some damage from erosion.

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Curacao’s International Airport is fully operational as is the port and international flights and cruise lines have all returned to normal service.

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Dive operators report no damage to the reef systems and although visibility has been slightly hampered because of rough seas this will improve once the waves abate.

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The city of Willemstad reports that all shops are open and that there were no power outages during the passage of the storm.

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Tourist Board officials noted how well the hotels had prepared for the storm and reported many guests were impressed with the precautions taken despite the fact that Curaçao is well outside the hurricane belt and the last such storm to visit the island was more than 130 years ago.

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