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Saturday 17 OctOber 2020

Aruba Tourism Authority (A.T.A):

Seize opportunities for

high season

ORANEJSTAD — There are certainly opportunities for
Aruba in the high season, which runs from November to
March, said Aruba Tourism Authority CEO, Ronella Tjin
Asjoe-Croes during a recent press conference. Market
research indicates that travelers are currently most inter-
ested in beach holidays.

The CEO of A.T.A repeated the tourism figures she previ-
ously presented to parliament. In July and August, visitor
numbers were high and in line with the projections of the
most optimistic scenario, but then there was a decline in
September. “I think we could have seen better results in
September. It is a good illustration of the impact that the
amount of positive corona cases has on our tourism, our
work and our daily bread. Everyone will agree that we
do not want to see this trend again in the coming months
and what we should avoid at all costs for the coming sea-
son.”

Beach vacation
We know there is a high interest in travelling and the most
popular destinations are beach vacations with 60% which
is a very high score and a great chance for Aruba. We
also see that the interest in traveling is greater among the
young than among the elderly and we have also noticed
this trend in our own results. In the first three months after
the opening of our borders, the majority of travelers were
people between 23 and 29 years old, namely 34%. These
millennials were in 2019 only 28.5 % of the total visitors.
This group has also caused an increase in the number
of visitors who came to Aruba for the first time, which is
now 61%. Perhaps this is because the older people have
visited Aruba before and are now in the minority group.
But it may also be that the younger generation is more
adventurous and dares to travel in the current Covid-19
situation.

More seat capacity
There are also signs that various American airlines want
to expand the seat capacity to Aruba and also several
Latin American airlines have indicated that they want to
fly back to Aruba. A.T.A is still in dialogue with the medical
cluster of the crisis team on the reopening date of the bor-
ders of Latin America. In addition, several airlines are con-
sidering offering corona tests before getting on the plane
and A.T.A is in dialogue to see if this could be an option
for travelers to Aruba. That would be a big step forward
and make travel conditions easier for tourists. A.T.A is also
in dialogue with the insurance companies to possibly of-
fer a cheaper package because there are few positively
tested tourists. It is important for A.T.A and the companies
in Aruba to normalize the situation as quickly as possible.
We all face the same challenges that we need to solve
together to accelerate the economic reboot. “We must
take advantage of the opportunities that are available
during the high season, "said A.T.A CEO.q

linda.reijnders@cspnv.com