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Friday 26 January 2018

Aruba’s Tourism in the Picture:

Outcome of 2017, Targets for 2018

By Linda Reijnders
ORANJESTAD - The Aruba Tourism Authority (A.T.A.) is the Destination
Marketing and Management Organization (DMMO) for Aruba. They
are responsible for uniting tourism interests amongst the on-and off-is-
land stakeholders/partners for the purpose of coordinating destination
marketing, destination development and destination partnerships. Last
Wednesday the local press was invited to view the outcome and results
of 2017 as well as the set targets for 2018. Ronella TjinAsjoe-Croes, Chief
Executive Officer of A.T.A, led the presentation, attended by Aruba To-
day.

Tourism is our bread and butter, always has been and will be. The Aru-
bans cherish their tourists. Aruba’s total Travel & Tourism contribution is…
88% of GDP and 89% of total employment. In the world ranking – out of
184 countries- we are number 2 in relative size.

Decline in stayover arrivals
2017 shows a decline in stayover visitor arrivals with 2, 9%. This mainly be-
cause of the decreasing Venezuelan market. For 2018 the target is set to
increase with 3, 7%.

We can see the average annual growth 2011-2017 in the statistics. Im-
portant is to mention which are the Key External Forces for 2017: a strong
demand by the US market, Venezuela was and still is crippling due to the
economic crises, Caribbean destinations outside of Aruba were devas-
tated by hurricanes and the state of perm anxiety (terrorism, security,
neo-isolationism, climate change and racial tension amongst others).

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