Aruban Tourism Down Again in May 2006 …

Aruban tourism down again … Tourism down 6.73%for May 2006 as compared to 2005 and down 10.64% year to date, according to what Aruba is reporting.

When will the ATA and Aruban authorities admit that the decline began due to one event and can only be fixed by one occurrence … Justice for Natalee.

  

Amigoe, August 23, 2006: Fewer tourists in May  Cab drivers feel the falling-off of the number of tourists directly in their wallet.

Aruba: “The tourism has been doing a little better in the past months. Really?

One really needs to wonder whether anything can believed anymore coming from Aruba. Upon implementing the Tourism Fund, backed by the Central Bank, we hear more utter nonsense come from Aruban officials as to the state of their tourism. You have not been honest about Natalee Holloway, why would anyone think they would be honest about their tourism?

“That’s exactly what’s happening now”, said Eman.   “The tourism has been doing a little better in the past months.   The number of visitors has been dropping with a worrisome average of 15 percent in the past months.   Nevertheless, we noticed in the budget that the amount for tourism promotion was lowered with 5 million florins.  

When will any Aruban politician be truthfully with their own people? Your tourism has been doing better in the past months? Really? What planet do you live on? We like to call the one we are on earth.

• According to the Bank, the cruise passengers have dropped with almost 40 percent in October of this year (2005). The hotel occupancy was almost 78 percent in October 2005.
• 3rd Qtr 2005: The 3rd quarter from 2005 showed a -3.5% decrease of airline passengers.
• 4th Qtr 2005: 7.4% decrease passengers to Queen Beatrix Airport compared to 2004
• The airport of Aruba saw a drop of 12.8 percent in the number of handled passengers in the first quarter of this year.

The number of flight movements dropped with 2.8 percent, announced the Aruba Airport Authority. With 250.585 American passengers, the percentage is lower than last year in the first quarter, namely 15 percent.

• 1st Qtr 2006: In the monthly bulletin of April that the Central Bank of Aruba (CBA) published recently is stated that in the first quarter of 2006, 14.7 percent less tourists visited Aruba than in 2005.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  
• From those figures appeared that tourists in January 2006 spent 15.8 percent less than in 2005.

  

Improving? Hardly. Its getting worse if that is even possible. It has gone from single digit losses to consistent double digit quarterly decreases. Let alone not only is the number of tourists down to Aruba but the ones that actually go are paying less for a room. The only thing that appears to be increasing is inflation.So now with all this loss of government tax revenue from a depleted tourism industry, the people of Aruba will have further tax funded social programs taken away from them due to the fact that The Tourism fund will take its money from room taxes.

Once this national ordinance is passed, there will be a separate fund that is independent from the government treasury.   The Tourism-minister will use this fund to pay the pursuers of the promotion policy in the USA, Europe, and Latin America, without being impeded by the problems of liquidity by the rest of the government.   Ã‚  

The tourism fund will be nurtured by the proceeds of the hotel room tax, which means that the proceeds of the tourist sector will be used directly for the promotion of the tourism.  

Anyone want to guess who will lose out on this when such monies are taken from the general tax fund and specifically given to tourism for marketing purposes? That’s right the Aruban people. No wonder the socialized insurance industry could not pay for an Aruban womans brain  tumor treatment. Its all about the tourism at all cost.

Read more

Amigoe: Naturalization test introduced in Aruba

Amigoe; May 6, 2006: Naturalization test introduced

ARUBA — Everybody that wants to qualify for naturalization has to take and pass the naturalization test before submitting the petition with the Cabinet of the Governor. Departamento di Integracion, Maneho y Admision di Strangero (Dimas) indicated that the Examining-board is responsible for organizing and evaluating the test.

The naturalization test has two parts. The first part deals with questions on the political structure and the community of Aruba, with aspects like the daily life, history, cultural and social development, and political developments.
Read more

Amigoe: Aruba Wyndham Hotel becomes Westin Resort

Amigoe; May 5, 2006: Wyndham Hotel becomes Westin Resort

ARUBA — The ownership of the Wyndham Hotel has been transferred to Belfonti Capital Partners LLC from the United States, who entered into a partnership with Starwood Vacation Club. The latter has the rights to build timeshare units on the property immediately next to the Wyndham Hotel. They have decided to start immediately with the build of the units.

It was rumored for weeks already that the hotel was going to be sold, but the involved parties didn’t want to give any comment as long as the acquisition was not really done. That was the case yesterday. They also announced that Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide will exploit the hotel. Also the name Wyndham will disappear as per immediate. 20 Million dollars will be used to improve the surrounding buildings and properties before the end of this year. One of the reasons is that the new owner wants to turn the complex into a Westin Resort, one of the leading chains in the tourist industry. Meanwhile they will use the name Aruba Resort, Spa & Casino.

Manager Rob Smith is pleased with the investment. “The new owners are planning to convert the resort into one of the most prominent resorts in Aruba and a leader in the Caribbean”, says Smith. Alfonso Riveroll, top executive of Aruba Hotel Enterprises will keep his job.

Alfonso Riveroll, president of the Wyndham Aruba says, “This is a country without complexes. To serve is sometimes difficult. That’s what makes tourism bad in other countries. They feel that the other people feel that they are inferior because they’re making up the bed or something. That’s a complex. This is what doesn’t exist in this country. That makes every Aruban a very strong person with nothing to hide, they give their best.” The prime minister himself said, “we don’t have an inferiority complex.”

Amigoe: Suspect, GVC, in Holloway case released

Amigoe; April 25, 2006: Suspect in Holloway case released

ARUBA — The Aruban judicial authorities have released the 19-year old Geoffrey van Cromvoirt early this morning. They did this because there are no longer reasons for keeping him imprisoned. The Public Prosecutor (OM) indicated this in a press release. Van Cromvoirt will remain a suspect though.
Read more