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local Wednesday 5 OctOber 2022

A prize handed out for the first time in history

A.T.A. awarded the first “Destination Resilience Award” from

Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association

On Monday, Aruba Tour- AAA, ATSA and many oth-
ism Authority (A.T.A)was ers who played their part in
awarded the Destination the recovery.
Resilience Award from Ca-
ribbean Hotel and Tourism Since the reopening, Aruba
Association (CHTA) for the experienced a successful
work carried out during recovery. Between April
the pandemic. This is the and August 2022, visitor ar-
first time that this prize was rivals surpassed the amount
handed out. of visitors per month for
2019, something that gives
The prize was handed out assurance that there will be
during an award ceremony a 100% recovery in global
in San Juan, Puerto Rico as visitors by the end of this
part of the 40th anniversary year. For 2023, a recovery
of CHTA’s Caribbean Travel of 105% compared to 2019
Marketplace. Jamaica, is projected.
Antigua, Bahamas and
St. Lucia were the other During the recognition
islands competing in the from CHTA, Bucuti and Tara
same category as Aruba. Beach Resort also won Best
Practices Sales and Mar-
Aruba was recognized for keting for their work.
its destination policy and
the recovery programs that Without the effort of every-
were implemented in order one, the Destination Re-
to receive visitors back af- silience Award would not
ter the closure of the bor- have been possible.
der. and “Open for Happiness”, cept. This is a merit to both Many thanks to every-
where it was duly commu- The documentation com- the public and private sec- one who forms part of the
Ronella Croes, CEO of nicated about the closing piled illustrated a lot of oth- tors that worked closely for recovery of Aruba! This
A.T.A. commented: “We and reopening phases, er achievements, including the benefit of our tourism, award is another step in
are extremely honored while a message of hope digitalization of the immi- including the entire team showing a resilient Aruba,
that Aruba can be recog- was created with the con- gration platform, introduc- of A.T.A. which is the local and an Aruba that moves
nized and receive this prize. sumers and gave them a tion of the Aruba Visitors In- and international team, as with courage and deter-
Aruba gave its part, and warm welcome with open surance, hard and success- well as key agencies work- mination during the historic
the team working in tourism arms as soon as it was pos- ful work of Aruba, which ing for Aruba, the ministry of pandemic that struck the
and other sectors, partners sible and safe to do this. A.T.A. has the honor to ac- Health and Tourism, AHATA, entire world.q
in the private and public
sectors, our leaders and
the Crisis Team, to men-
tion some. We managed to
open the border back in a
safe way, and to navigate
through various protocols
and regulations. This award
is proof of these alliances
as well as the hard work
of our community in order
to ensure a strong and sus-
tainable recovery for our
island.”

Seeing the fact that this
prize originates from the
travel and tourism sector,
some of the aspects high-
lighted by A.T.A., among
others, that Aruba was
recognized with this prize
for the efforts to create a
hub with all information re-
lated to Covid-19 on social
media, website as well as
eCRM. In this hub, A.T.A.
implemented communi-
cation campaigns includ-
ing “Happiness will Prevail”