Amigoe: Aruban Parliamentary committee Tourism is waiting for action plan

Amigoe; April 6, 2006

Aruban parliament thinking that just by throwing money at a marketing strategy is going to restore Aruba’s positive image. I guess it does not matter where the politicians are located sometimes as to their methods of remedying problems. After ten months of watching a family of a missing teenager treated, its going to take a lot more than a marketing strategy. That train left the station a long time ago and to use such words as “pro-active and dynamic” with how any of the matters have been handled in the Natalee Holloway disappearance is almost laughable.

Parliamentary committee Tourism is waiting for action plan

ARUBA — The Parliamentary committee Tourism is waiting since late January for the action plan drawn up by the Aruba Tourism Authority (ATA) to reverse the dramatic downturn in the tourism. At that time, the ATA had already sent the plan to minister Edison Briesen of Tourism and Transportation for forwarding, but the committee had still not received the plan, says AVP-parliamentarian Andy Lee. The committee had even sent a reminder letter.

“Briesen’s way of acting makes one feel dubious about his capacities to shape the tourism in Aruba proactively and dynamically”, said Lee. He is of the opinion that the action plan is highly necessary. The manager of the airport said that the tourism had dropped with 1 percent in January and February and the tourism figures had dropped drastically since August.” ATA’s PR-plan should return Aruba’s positive image in the United States. What the plan is going to cost will exceed ATA’s budget and the 2006 budget has not been submitted yet. Lee is of the opinion that the minister should act more decisively. “It has become clear that Briesen is not really interested in the actual tourism figures, and they are still not up-to-date. Therefore we do not know yet to what extend the total tourists have dropped in the first months of 2006 and what influence it had on the economy of Aruba since the second half of 2005. Now that there is a plan to improve the image of Aruba in the US, this same minister doesn’t take actions and leaves everything as is.”