The Aruba Tourism Authority (A.T.A.) held an extensive and productive week of meetings concerning the strategy for 2024, 2025, and beyond. This year, a significant portion of the meeting focused on A.T.A.’s role in the integral changes that need to be introduced or actions that need to be adjusted to achieve a better balance between economic development, quality visitor experiences, nature and environmental protection, and the quality of life for our residents.
The North American market is of utmost importance and has shown the following developments: up until May of this year, the market experienced a positive result of an additional 17.0%, and it is anticipated to close the year with an additional positive result of 13% compared to 2023. This is due to a very strong demand and a market with a very high spending pattern.
Meetings were held with North American agencies, namely Deep Focus and Zeno, dedicated to effectively promoting Aruba in their respective markets. Discussions covered the communication strategy, A.T.A.’s management plan for 2025 to 2035 – which is currently being formulated –, the ‘Local Sentiment’ survey, updates on the Aruba Promise/ My Commitment and Code of Conduct, and challenges and opportunities including Luxury Tourism, Wellness, and Over-tourism. Additionally, representatives from the Aruba Conservation Foundation attended, discussing the successful transition of the foundation. A key partner in the transition, A.T.A. aims to give more prominence to our nature and environment, among other aspects.
The North American market continues to have a significant influence on the type of visitors Aruba receives. The focus for 2025 remains based on A.T.A.’s desired direction to attract High Value – Low Impact visitors, which includes visitors aligned with the norms and values of the island, respecting Aruba’s people, nature, beliefs, and culture. The ‘High Value’ aspect remains important and includes attracting those with relatively higher annual incomes.
A.T.A. measures this and also measures what American visitors – as well as visitors from other markets – ultimately leave behind in our economy. With this in mind, alongside measuring visitor satisfaction, A.T.A. has increasingly paid more attention to measuring the sentiments of our local community. This is becoming an integral part of A.T.A.’s strategy, summarized as ‘A lovely Aruba for Living is a lovely Aruba to Visit’. This is not a new aspect but has certainly received a lot of attention and will continue to receive even more!
About Aruba Tourism Authority (A.T.A.)
Since January 1, 2011, the Aruba Tourism Authority operates as a ‘Sui Generis’ entity – an independent organization in the public sphere. The Aruba Tourism Authority functions as a Destination Marketing and Management Organization (DMMO) and is responsible for uniting tourism interests among local and international partners. A.T.A. places a strong emphasis on the “High Value-Low Impact” model, which aims to balance increasing the economic value of visitors, positioning Aruba as a desirable and sustainable island, and positioning Aruba as a leader in development as a destination. The goal is to continue maintaining efforts in line with the mentioned balance and to increase revenue through tourism quality instead of the volume of visitors our destination receives.
