Oduber in New Year’s speech: ‘More tolerance in 2007′ (More Head in the Sand from Aruban PM)

In Prime Ministers Nelson Oduber’s New Year’s speech he claimed 2006 was a productive year. For who? Have you taken a look at your economic numbers lately PM Oduber,  Here … Here …. Here … Here … Here … Here.  Let alone inflation rates rising in Aruba, budget cuts, no legislation to control corruption and an inaccurately reported crime rate. What a joke. Unfortunately for the Aruban people, its being played on them as well.

Do you understand that Aruba has become synonymous with Missing Persons, Natalee Holloway and Cover up and corruption? No tourism marking plan will change that until you put worth a sincere effort to find real answers as to what happened to Natalee Holloway and prosecute those responsible.

That’s it, in a time where the rest of the Caribbean is enjoying prosperous growth in tourism and reaping the rewards of those economic windfall, keep your head in the sandy white beaches of Aruba. Hotel occupancy rates were up in nearby Curacao; however, not in Aruba. Keep spinning to your people that everything is okay. I think we can all remember another individual who disputed the facts over and over as well.

“2006 was a very productive year”, said Oduber.  He said that his government is a ‘trendsetter’ and he complemented the private sector that according to him, had done everything to contribute to the economic development of Aruba in a positive and constructive manner.

Aruban Prime Minister Nelson Oduber would dare ask for “solidarity, understanding, and toleration.” Interesting words coming from a man who’s MEP Party stated the following democratic and tolerant comments regarding summoning militants. These certainly sound like the words of a party that has the mission of “can’t we all get along”.

“If and when it comes to demonstrations and strikes, MEP will summon its militants to turn the tide and protect democracy and the constitutional state.”

MEP says that they are totally aware of AVP’s strategy and also which entrepreneurs are involved. “Do not confuse our kindness and toleration with weakness, because we warn the population that it will work out differently this time.”

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Tourism & Tourists: The Greatest Power Against the Caribbean … $$$’s

For those Caribbean countries that are so dependent upon the three S’s: “sun, sand and sea” … tourism and tourists have more power than they have ever believed. According to the WTO the Caribbean is the most dependent upon tourism which makes the short sighted and myopic views of Aruba most puzzling. Risking all in an effort to cover up a crime and not want to do all they could in the initial stages to put the disappearance of Natalee Holloway to bed so their tourism would not be affected. Instead, they foolishly thought the matter would just go away. What do they think now?

There are other Caribbean islands with much greater crime rates than Aruba that are prospering. The Caribbean is actually experiencing tourism growth. The people have a powerful way of voicing their opinions and dissatisfaction. Tourists voice it with their wallets and pocketbooks. Individual choice to right a wrong. There is no marketing campaign that can combat people’s opinions.

When will Aruba understand that perception is everything and it is not so much the crime that was committed against Natalee Holloway that they are being punished. It is the overt and conscious cover up to protect those with friends in high places. In this case, it was not the crime that destroyed Aruba’s tourism, but the cover up.

Fifteen million of those travelers, mainly from North America, head for the Caribbean, which is by far the most tourist-dependent region of the world. On smaller islands like St. Lucia, tourism’s contribution to the economy exceeds 70 percent, and the annual number of visitors far exceeds the resident population: Antigua’s 64,000 residents put out the welcome mat for 231,000 visitors one recent year.

On Caribbean tourist islands there has always been a sharp distinction between tourism and how locals view tourists. None more evident as in Jamaica as pointed out by the International Herald Tribune.

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Aruba: No White Bread for You … The economic effects keep coming

Just how bad is it getting in Aruba? No white bread to be made available? Forget about “No Soup for you” … Aruba, “No white bread for you”.  The BBO strikes again. Talk about desperate for tax revenue. And why is Aruba scraping for tax revenue? Who wants to admit the one thing that occurred in Aruba that has caused all of this to occur?  Can anyone in Aruba state that white bread would be off the menus prior to the disappearance of Natalee Holloway?

Are you beginning to understand the far reaching implications of what this botched investigation and cover-up by Aruban officials has done? The affects of individuals boycott to vacation in a place they deemed unsafe and worse yet, a place where tourists knew they would never get any help from authorities was never going to occur overnight. The deep effects of a downward economy are like turning an ocean liner. It takes time; however, when the effects finally do take place … they take even longer to correct. Aruba, was it worth it?

ORANJESTAD – If it is up to the association of bakeries, there won’t be white bread (kipashi) on the shelves starting this January 1st.  The minister of Finance and Economic Affairs has announced the new price for white bread, which includes the bbo, but the association doesn’t agree with the price increase, because the bakers say that it is not enough to cover the costs. 

Read the full story, Amigoe; December 31, 2006: No white bread due to bbo

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Aruba’s Tourism Still in the Tank for August 2006 even after a Concerted Marketing Campaign

As the rest of the Caribbean sees increases in their tourism, Aruba continues to not even break even. Does anyone in Aruba want to rethink the notion that the “Natalee Holloway” situation with go away in 4 days? Do you still doubt Scared Monkey’s June 2, 2005 initial post, This Can’t Be Good For Tourism, Where’s Natalee Holloway?

It is hard to imagine that Aruba’s tourism numbers have still not stabilized after all this time following the disappearance of Natalee Holloway. Eventually, after the disastrous 2005 and 2006 decline in tourism Aruba will have to hit rock bottom and show some type of increase. However, even with what little increase they may show the tourism numbers in Aruba are far from what they once were. Especially factoring in the fact that many Caribbean islands are showing rapid increases. The bad news continues in the CBA report for October 2006.

Year to date for the first 8 months of 2006 stay over visitors are down nearly 10%. This while tourism is up across the Caribbean. From the Aruba Central Bank:

• In October 2006, money supply shrank by Afl. 9.7 million or 0.4 percent to Afl. 2,463.6 million. This contraction was the result of an Afl. 8.3 million outflow of funds to abroad and an Afl. 1.4 million decrease in net domestic assets.
• In August 2006, the number of stay-over visitors and their nights spent on the island
  declined by 0.9 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively, compared to the corresponding
  month in 2005.
• In the first eight months of 2006, stay-over visitors and total nights spent on the island shrank by 9 percent and 6.4 percent, respectively.
• According to data from the Central Bureau of Statistics, the average occupancy rate of the hotels for October 2006 shows a contraction of 6.2 percentage points to 73.7 percent, compared to the corresponding month a year earlier.

(click on doc to enlarge)

More disastrous economic numbers are reported from the CBA from the second quarter in Aruba. Couple these continued poor results with the upcoming 2007 BBO “turnover tax”, Royal Caribbean no longer docking in Aruba and the tax battle with Valero.

Quarterly bulletin for the second quarter of 2006

• The Centrale Bank van Aruba (the Bank) mentions in its Bulletin of the second quarter of 2006 that available information indicates a weakening in current business conditions in the second quarter of 2006. Indicative hereof is that the Partial Economic Activity Index (PEAI), as published by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), showed a 2.0 percent decline in the volume of business activities, compared to the corresponding quarter a year earlier.
• Compared to previous surveys, a decline in the optimism for the coming months has also been noticed. The performance in business conditions is affected by an ongoing weak performance in the tourism sector, as indicated by the numbers of stay-over visitors and nights spent on the island, which declined by 5 percent and 4 percent, respectively.
• Gross tourism receipts decreased by 4 percent, while the average hotel occupancy rate recorded a 6.3 percentage points decline to 74.4 percent.
• Inflationary pressures remained unabated in the second quarter of 2006. The quarterly
  average inflation rate remained high at 3.9 percent
• This improvement reflected mainly a decrease in payment arrears to government-related institutions (including the AZV) and suppliers of goods and services of, respectively, Afl. 29 million and Afl. 9 million. However, total government debt surged by Afl. 119 million (7 percent) to Afl. 1,882 million, compared to the second quarter of 2005, reflecting increases in both domestic and foreign debt of Afl. 69 million (7 percent) and Afl. 50 million (6 percent), respectively. The debt-to-GD (GDP 2005) ratio rose by 3 percentage points to 47 percent.

Today’s Oxymoron … Police Integrity Report in Aruba

One wonders just how long this investigation was going to be kept under-wraps in Aruba? An investigation into the investigators. Aruban officials even managed to squelch this report as well. Just par for the course on “One Happy Island”.   

The report was already given to the then chief of police Ronny Bernadina on April 3rd of this year.  The investigation took place in 2005 and based on the findings, Forensic Services Caribbean advices to draw up a master plan to deal with the integrity risks.

Read the full article at Amigoe, December 23, 2006: A master plan is needed for better police integrity  

ORANJESTAD – An investigation report on the efficiency of the Police Corps of Aruba (KPA) regarding integrity, states that the control on work procedure is poorly; promotional transfers take place, while there is a disciplinary investigation going; and there is no correct follow up after irregularities within the corps are signaled. 

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