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Diasabra, 4 April 2020 AWEMainta 25

When will Aruba’s tourism

industry recover?

James Hepple, BA, PhD

Assistant Professor, FHTMS, University of Aruba

As of April 1 2020, Aruba’s tourism industry has shut down as the Government attempts

to slow the rate of infections from the COVID19 virus.

By way of background: -

 On March 15 regulations were put in place regulating the entry of visitors.
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 On March 21 the Aruban border was closed indefinitely to incoming visitors and
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returning residents. On the same date a curfew from 9 pm until 6 am was

implemented.
 On Sunday March 29 th a Shelter in Place order was implemented whereby the

population was confined to their homes. No date was given when this order
would be lifted. All bars, restaurants, nightclubs, casinos, stores, malls, and other

related facilities were deemed non-essential and were closed.

 The airline industry responded to these regulations, and to other similar
regulations being implemented elsewhere, by almost immediately suspending air

service to Aruba.
 According to the Official Airline Guide More than 90% of airline capacity

(OAG), between March 16 th and March will be lost.

30 th Aruba lost 84% of its air seats,
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falling from 33,338 seats for the week of No cruise calls until 12 May at
March 16 to 5,266 seats for the week of the earliest
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March 30 , a drop of 28,072 seats, with
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further cuts to come.

 Many airlines have indicated they will not be flying to Aruba during the month of
April with indications that the suspension of these flights could well continue

through May.
 Many cruise lines suspended operations on March 13 and have stated they do
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not plan to recommence their cruises again until at least May 11 .
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 As of Wednesday April 1 st, Aruba has reported it had 55 positive cases of COVID
19, that is 487 cases per one million persons. The USA reported 207,637 positive

cases on the same date, that is 628 cases per one million persons. In both

instances the number of cases is growing significantly on a daily basis.

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