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AWEMainta Diabierna, 13 November 2015 41

Who we are:

AHATA is a non-profit association powered by its members

The 80 member companies run the breadth of the tourism industry, from large hotel properties and timeshare resorts to activity companies and small ser-
vice providers. The combined strength and knowledge of our members enables AHATA to move forward in enacting positive change within the industry.

At the end of the 1950s Aruba began to develop its tourism industry and saw the opening of its first luxurious hotel on Palm Beach; The Aruba Caribbean
Hotel-Casino. More hotels followed and the Aruba Hotel Association (AHA) was founded in September 1965 and had the basic objective of promoting coop-
eration between its members and other agencies which were directly or indirectly involved in the welfare of the tourism industry of Aruba. As the years went
by the association expanded its influence and in 1987 the AHA was renamed the Aruba Hotel and Tourism Association (AHATA) the name it goes by today.

How we work: tion), and CSHAE (Caribbean Society of Hotel Association Executives).
AHATA functions on a variety of levels, always keeping in mind the end
goal of building the brand of Aruba while ensuring a satisfied Aruban
visitor. Our three core functions include: The creation of the new ATA Board

Influencing the marketing of Aruba through AHATA’s membership on In September 2009 a new government of Aruba was elected and im-
the Board of Directors of the Aruba Tourism Authority. mediately began the process of implementing one of its campaign
Advocacy (issues including labor, fiscal, environment and cost of doing promises, that is to create a joint private/public sector Board to manage
business) Membership Support (offering opportunities in networking, the spending of the Aruba Tourism Authority.After extensive negotia-
education and a greater degree of visibility and industry participation) tions between AHATA and the Ministry of Tourism Memorandum of
AHATA has a small and professional staff of three led by the President & Understanding was signed on March 25th 2010 agreeing that the Gov-
CEO. With the support of a diverse member base, the Association main- ernment’s room tax, which was set at 6% at that time, would increase
tains a close working partnership with the Aruba Tourism Authority to 7.5% and that the 2% room toll which was voluntarily assessed by
and collaborates with other non-governmental organizations, such as AHATA member hotels would be converted into a mandatory 2% room
the Chamber of Commerce, the Aruba Trade and Industry Association, tax to be paid by all hotels thus increasing the total room tax to 9.5%.
the Main Street Merchants Association and the San Nicolas Business The proceeds of this 9.5% room tax would then go to an independent
Association. fund to be used by the ATA solely for marketing activities and was to
be managed by a seven (7) person Board of Directors of which AHATA
Our position: would appoint three. Three other would be appointed by the Minister
During its 50 year existence, AHATA has been recognized as the primary of Tourism and the seventh independent director would be nominated
representative of the Aruba tourism industry for the private sector, not by the six directors and appointed by the Minister of Tourism.
only in Aruba but also abroad. In the region, the Aruba Tourism Author-
ity (ATA) and AHATA have been mentioned on several occasions as an Legislation confirming this agreement was passed in February 2011
example for other islands when referring to “how to manage tourism”. and the new ATA Board held its first meeting on Wednesday March
There is a remarkable respect for Aruba in the circles of CTO (Caribbean 16th 2011. The directors appointed by AHATA on this Board are Mr.
Tourism Organization), CHTA (Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Associa- Ewald Biemans, Mr. Warren Stanley and Mr. James Hepple.