Bonaire is seeing continued strong tourism numbers this summer and into the fall, Caribbean Journal has learned. 

The Dutch Caribbean island reported just under 11,000 stay over visitors in September, which represented a 7 percent increase over September 2019, before the pandemic. 

That was buoyed by a sustained visitor surge from the European market. 

Just under 50 percent of all arrivals were from The Netherlands, along with 2,190, or 20 percent, from the North American market. 

The island got an additional boost from nearby Curacao, which sent 1,708 visitors to the island for the month. 

Officials say Dutch visitors tend to stay for two weeks, while American travelers tend to come to the island for an average of one week. 

The average Bonaire traveler is between 46 and 65 years old. 

Bonaire tourism officials say they are benchmarking their tourism numbers against 2019 as it was one of the best-performing years in the history of the island. 

On the cruise side, Bonaire welcomed a pair of cruise ships carrying a total of 7,695 passengers last month.