WILLEMSTAD, Curaçao — Cab drivers in resort areas have an uncanny understanding of the state of the tourism industry and Curaçao taxi-man Adelbert Cijntje is by no means the exception, telling the Jamaica Observer with certain confidence:

“Sandals is going to change tourism in Curaçao. There is a lot of talk among us [cab drivers] that we’ll be having more work as more Americans will be coming here,” said Cijntje who has been in the business for 10 years.

“We get many Europeans here but Americans are known to spend more,” he was not shy about saying. “We have heard about Sandals, that everywhere they go the tourism grows, so we can’t wait.”

Just three days later, at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new resort, prime minister of the Dutch-speaking island Gilmar Pisas struck the same theme, saying he was relying on Sandals to lure the Americans to Curaçao to soak up the country’s understated beauty and exciting culture.

It’s been barely more than a month but since the opening of Sandals Royal Curaçao on June 1, others have started to see early signs that the taxi driver’s predictions are about to come true.

American travel agent (now rebranded travel advisor) Molly Ward, whose Alpha World Travel operates out of North Carolina, attests that more Americans are already booking the resort.

Ward, who has spent the last eight years specialising in selling destination weddings and honeymoons exclusively to Sandals, says she personally loves Sandals Curaçao after seeing it in operation, predicting: “I believe it will be the top favourite resort here in no time.”

Charles Cooper, the minister of traffic, transport and urban planning, said tourism is becoming more important to Curaçao and it is believed Sandals will be “a game changer”. He said he was already seeing changes among local transport workers, just based on the approach of Sandals.

Mark Verburg, who runs the largest transportation company in Curaçao, FBTT Travel, was in no doubt about Sandals’ early impact.

“In one month you have changed my company,” he told David Shields, vice-president of sales for Island Routes which provides tour services to a number of clients, including Sandals and Beaches. “We have had to step up our game to keep in line.”

Giving an example of the Island Routes approach, Shields said: “We have to move on time. When we say we are scheduled to arrive at an attraction at X time, it has to be X time. So, we have to do everything to ensure we meet those stipulations. We are already seeing the response from the local transportation and tour sector. It’s working very well so far.”

Evening duty manager at Sandals Royal Curaçao Nathaly Harms, a veteran of the local hospitality industry, made a mental note that a neighbouring hotel had been carefully watching Sandals training its staff.

“You could definitely see the security at their gate and the doorman putting on a bigger smile and greeting everyone with much more enthusiasm than usual,” said Harms with a chuckle. “But that is good if Sandals can bring change — even at that level.”

She said that with the arrival of Sandals there was also a noticeable increase in air traffic. As someone who loves her country she said it was pleasing to see that Sandals was doing business across the board, from small to medium-size to large businesses.

Harms was especially happy that the mix of culture and languages among the staff at Royal Curaçao, Sandals’ first outside of the English-speaking Caribbean, had been taking place flawlessly, and that the employees seemed to be enjoying learning from each other.

“They seem to be surprising each other in a positive way. It’s beautiful to see Dutch, English, American, French co-mingling, eating each other’s food, and sharing their culture. I especially enjoy hearing them talking the dialects, Patois of Jamaica and Papiamento of Curaçao with each other. The guests, too, seem to be enjoying the experience.

“It is really satisfying to see the evolving Caribbean culture focusing on one love and sharing the Caribbean space,” said Harms.

Director of operations at Royal Curaçao Kurt Jackson, a Jamaican who has worked in the hospitality industry in different parts of the Caribbean and who has been a resident in Curaçao for the past 18 years, said Sandals was the first luxury-included brand to come to the island and would represent a step up in terms of the service levels they were accustomed to there.

He expects to see the dominance of Dutch guests give way to Americans coming especially from Atlanta, Georgia; Dallas, Texas; and New York. The load factors have already begun to bear that out, Jackson added.