Amigoe: Ahata supports Aruban tourism fund. “Blind Strategy”

AVP hopes to get more information from Ahata on the Aruba Marketing Retreat that was organized in New York recently.   The participants came to the conclusion that the tourism in Aruba is not doing very well and that the investments in the promotion do not correspond to what the marketing bureaus advice.

According to Eman, what the tour operators and airline companies are saying confirm the fact that we do need a Tourism-fund.  “Alarm is being sound everywhere.  The tourism is the drive of our economy and must and will remain as such in the near future.  We have to take actions now in order to combat this negative spiral.” 

Month after month, quarter after quarter of terrible and declining tourism numbers Aruba has finally come to the conclusion that they are not doing well and action has to be taken now to combat the disastrous tourism situation they face. Unbelievable. Where have you people been? The apple does not fall far from the tree in the investigation in to why Aruban tourism is down and that of the disappearance of Natalee Holloway. In both case they are desperately lacking. However, the irony is that they are both forever connected to each other even though AHATA and the Aruban officials will never say so and keep their head in the sand and blinfolded.

(Vanderbilt – “06)

It is a wonder how these people will ever fix the problem when they refuse to look at the truth of the matter and remain blindfolded to the causal effect of the terrible and unprofessional investigation in to the disappearance of Natalee Holloway. Aruba’s answer to change their tourism stars. Is it to show the tourism public that they are willing and able to adequately investigate a crime where a tourist goes missing? Is it to show the future paying tourists that if something goes terribly wrong in Aruba that a tourist will not get caught up in home town cronyism? No, Aruba’s answer is to throw money at the problem and restructure their tourism from “quantity to quality”.

Not only does the AVP want to reverse the trend, but wants to work with a new plan for tourism toward a restructuring from quantity to quality.  “Each replacement and renewal of hotel capacity must improve the level of service and productivity”, says Eman. According to him, Aruba is way overbuilt, the development of the infrastructure is behind and heavily loaded, and there is a structural shortage in workers.  “Each enlargement of the hotel capacity should be limited and only allowed when it improves the quality.”

I am not quite sure if tourists who frequent Aruba presently should be insulted or not. You look at people as  a ”quantity”? Which would in turn mean that Aruba does not provide amenities that would only be available to the “quality”. Frankly, the comments and the vision is a joke and sounds more like the movie Spinal Tap when the band was asked if that they are worried if the bands popularity is waning as they are playing to smaller crowds than they did before. Spinals Taps answer: “I do not think our popularity is waning, only becoming more select.”

We will borrow one more line from Spinal Tap regarding the “blinders” approach to dealing with tourism and the Natalee Holloway effect by the AHATA

• Ian Faith: The Boston gig has been cancelled…
• David St. Hubbins: What?
•  Ian Faith: Yeah. I wouldn’t worry about it though, it’s not a big college town.

Read the full article … Amigoe; July 19, 2006 Ahata supports tourism fund 

ARUBA – Also Aruba Hotel and Tourism Association (Ahata) has interest in the private member’s bill of the AVP-party in parliament to establish a separate fund that finances and guarantees the tourism marketing.  “Ahata has some suggestions to add to our bill.  We will meet with them today”, confirmed AVP-leader Mike Eman this morning. 

AVP hopes to get more information from Ahata on the Aruba Marketing Retreat that was organized in New York recently.   The participants came to the conclusion that the tourism in Aruba is not doing very well and that the investments in the promotion do not correspond to what the marketing bureaus advice.

According to Eman, what the tour operators and airline companies are saying confirm the fact that we do need a Tourism-fund.  “Alarm is being sound everywhere.  The tourism is the drive of our economy and must and will remain as such in the near future.  We have to take actions now in order to combat this negative spiral.” 

Not only does the AVP want to reverse the trend, but wants to work with a new plan for tourism towards a restructuring from quantity to quality.  “Each replacement and renewal of hotel capacity must improve the level of service and productivity”, says Eman. According to him, Aruba is way overbuilt, the development of the infrastructure is behind and heavily loaded, and there is a structural shortage in workers.  “Each enlargement of the hotel capacity should be limited and only allowed when it improves the quality.”

More attention has to be paid to the convention-tourism.  The marketing has to aim for worldwide tourists with great purchasing power.  

“Monies from the Tourism-fund have to be used for broadly-based marketing in the US and Europe, but also to attract these new niche-markets.   

Also the stay over tourism has to be intensified.  The government has to invest in stimulating new attractions that makes the stay over be more interesting, broader, and more intensive for the tourist.  This increases the spending per day.  

There is also more room for the cruise tourism to grow.  This type of tourism will put less pressure on infrastructure and surroundings, while it leads to the same high spending as that of the stay over tourist.  

AVP is also of the opinion that the ATA has to be privatized.  The part the government plays in this must be limited to the global policy and to the stimulation of research and development for the benefit of this sector.