Janet Silvera, Senior Tourism Writer
Oranjestad, Aruba:
Emerging from a six per cent decline in tourist arrivals last year, the influx of Spanish investors into Aruba may help boost the Dutch Caribbean island's tourism industry this year.
The success of Spanish investment in Jamaica may well be having spillover effects into the southern Caribbean island nation, with international chains RIU, Sol Melia and Occidental injecting major capital into the tourism sector which has been struggling. This, officials say, is partly due to the backlash from the now famous Natalie Holloway disappearance, stiff competition worldwide, and other factors such as rising oil prices, terrorism and natural disasters.
The Spanish groups already operating in Aruba include Occidental, while RIU - with three hotels in Jamaica - will complete construction of a 400-room hotel here by the second half of 2007. Sol Melia will soon commence renovations of the old Bushiri hotel and will eventually raise its flag in this multi-lingual nation.
Aruba optimistic
Aruba is optimistic that the three investors, which will add close to 1,200 rooms to its room inventory with a combined investment of US$260 million, will help the island achieve tourism arrivals of more than 1.1 million similar to that of 2005.
"Having the Spanish investors is in line with the government's plans to diversify the market, and Europe is important ... the Euro is strong," Aruba's Commissioner of Tourism, Edison Briessen told journalists at a press conference during the Caribbean Hotel Association's Caribbean Marketplace here on Monday.
He said the new global players will help attract new business to the island, which currently has an overdependence on the American market.
Since the disappearance of American student Natalie Holloway in May 2005, there has been aggressive lobbying in the U.S. media to the boycott the Dutch territory. Although its cruise ship passenger figures have increased considerably, its land-based business has declined.
In addition to the 10 per cent increase in room inventory announced by officials, a US$3.7 million marketing campaign, new flights out of the United Kingdom and Holland, extra capacity on Delta Air Lines and the introduction of low cost carrier Jet Blue are expected to contribute to a healthier 2007.
