Page 22 - ATA 13 NOV 2015
P. 22
LOCAL A15
Friday 13 November 2015
The Aruba Hotel and Tourism Association is Celebrating 50 Years!
EAGLE, ORANJESTAD - The tinued to grow, it moved Israel; some as Associa- & Donna Del Gallo, exec- banks, car rentals, com-
Aruba Hotel and Tourism into a historic building in tion Presidents – Jan de utives Charly Ibbara and munication companies,
Association, A.H.A.T.A, is Eagle, where it is still op- Ruiter, Brian Reeves, Gerrit Adwina Arends. They are Destination Management
celebrating 50 years since erating. The old guard Griffith, Ed Malone, Hen- assigned great respon- Companies, wedding or-
its inception in 1965. AHA- house of the Eagle oil re- drick Santos, Eduardo de sibilities in working a dy- ganizers, restaurants, pub-
TA was first established in finery was first rented, then Veer, Alex Nieuwmeyer, namic full time marketing lications besides naturally
1966 as the Aruba Hotel with the help of Caribbe- Jeff Lesker, Alfonso Riv- organization, under the hotels, resorts and devel-
Association. Later, in 1987, opment companies.
in order to broaden the an Mercantile Bank, pur- eroll, and Jorge Pesquera. leadership of Scott Wig- During its 50 year exis-
scope of the organization chased and refurbished Significant changes in gins, Senior Director of tence, A.H.A.T.A. has
and include more mem- to contain the nerve cen- AHATA’s structure were Sales and Marketing for come to be recognized
bers in tourism related ter of hospitality in Aruba, made by President & CEO North America and Direc- both in Aruba and over-
businesse s, the name was conveniently located just Jorge Pesquera. They tor of Operations for the seas as the primary pri-
changed to AHATA, the a few steps away from the were aimed at delivering Aruba Meetings and Con- vate sector representa-
Aruba Hotel & Tourism As- government’s Aruba Tour- superb marketing support vention Bureau. tive of Aruba’s tourism in-
sociation. ism Authority. and membership services, In the office Dyane Vis, dustry. Hotels and resorts,
Original members, hote- Many famous names, distinguishing AHATA as Nathaly Wouters, Fran- destination management
lier Ike Cohen and Publish- movers and shakers of this one of the premiere hotel cie Croes and the ever companies, the airport,
er Rory Arends report that community, went through and tourism associations helpful Anky Nucete as banks, restaurants and
the Cactus Inn, Hotel Nas- an AHATA phase some- in the Caribbean. well as hotelier Ed Malo- small service providers
sau, the Coral Strand Hotel time during their illustrious AHATA hosted the com- ne, in charge of special now form part of one of
and the Aruba Caribbean career, some in an exec- pletely re-organized Aru- projects, did their share the most well respected
were the first members to utive position – Michael ba Meeting & Convention in supporting the organi- tourism associations in the
join, they had their eyes Kuiperi, Anabela Peter- Bureau, with Vice Presi- zation which was made entire Caribbean.
on a prosperous future son, Adwina Arends, Fritz dents Mayline Menendez up of airlines, attractions, A.H.A.T.A’s mission is to
and they understood that support the building of
tourism will eventually be- the brand of Aruba and
come a major economic to ensure a satisfied Aru-
pillar for the island. ba visitor through first, its
The seeds of collaboration membership on the board
between the private sec- of directors of Aruba Tour-
tor and the public sector ism Authority (A.T.A.), and
were introduced as early secondly by advocating
as 1966 when Rory Arends labor, fiscal, environmen-
at the time Commission- tal and cost of doing busi-
aire of Tourism and a gov- ness issues, as well as of-
ernment official joined the fering opportunities in net-
board of AHA as commis- working, education and a
sioner. The hoteliers and greater degree of visibility
the government represen- and industry participation.
tatives banded together A.H.A.T.A boasts a small
determined to explore professional staff, led by
marketing avenues for the President and C.E.O,
the island’s emerging hos- Mr. Jim Hepple. With the
pitality industry. support of a diverse mem-
Incidentally, Arends will ber base, the Association
later become AHATA’s maintains a close working
CEO, and oversee the partnership with the Aruba
expansion of its role even Tourism Authority, (A.T.A.),
further in the 90s. Local and collaborates with
hotelier Ike Cohen went other non-governmental
on to become the Carib- organizations including
bean Hotel Association’s the Chamber of Com-
first recipient of the Gold- merce, the Aruba Trade
en Conch award, when Industry Association, the
the regional award was Aruba Timeshare Associa-
created in 1978. tion, the Main Street Mer-
AHATA’s first modest chants Association and
headquarters were situ- the San Nicolas Business
ated in Bubali, at a tiny Association.
office fondly referred to A.H.A.T.A will celebrate
as the Bubali Hilton. The this remarkable 50 year
office later moved to the milestone on Friday, 13th
administrator’s house. November, 2015, in the
Henk Smouter who served Marriott Grand Ballroom
the organization for 13 where its staff and mem-
years, used his private resi- bers will have the oppor-
dence as AHATA’s com- tunity to combine busi-
mand center. ness and networking with
As the organization con- pleasure.q
