Tourism is Coming Back after Two Disappointing Years

Once considered one of the most exotic vacation and honeymoon destinations for American travelers, Aruba for years enjoyed a reputation that it was the “in” place to be. But the island now finds itself in a challenging situation as it fights a tourism downturn caused by the months of front-page news surrounding the disappearance of 18-year-old Natalee Holloway in May 2005.

It has been nearly two years since that incident, but the words Aruba and unsafe destination has been inextricably and unfairly linked since then. In the meantime, tourism numbers have fallen, even though arrivals had just hit a record level in 2004. But the island is finally making a comeback and is seeing a construction boom in hotels, at Queen Beatrix International Airport and in other tourism facility developments that it hopes will put it back on the map.

According to Aruba’s minister of tourism, more than $230 million is being invested in travel-related products and services, with the island seeing major renovations and expansions taking place at its airport, at hotels, at the cruise ship and bus terminals, and in shopping malls, villas, and spa facilities. The airport alone is spending $34 million to improve its facilities and attract more air service. The island already received direct air service from American Airlines, Continental, Delta, JetBlue, United and US Airways from such major U.S. cities as New York; Philadelphia; Charlotte, N.C.; Chicago; Houston; Atlanta; and Miami. Delta in February added Sunday flights from New York-JFK, and JetBlue has announced it will launch additional daily flights from JFK during the peak summer season.

In addition to runway, security and terminal improvements, new facilities for a fix-based operator (FBO) at the airport were scheduled for a grand opening at the end of March. The new building will allow private jets and general-aviation aircraft to more readily serve the airport and the island. Tourism officials believe that the private FBO terminal will help them attract more of their target market – the high-end, or luxury, visitor.

The airport will further benefit from a $16 million beautification initiative being undertaken by Aruba government. The project includes the creation of the longest linear park in the Caribbean, stretching from the airport to the high-rise resorts, welcoming visitors with a fully landscaped 10-mile corridor along Smith Boulevard, the main street in Oranjestad, the capital of Aruba.

But private-sector investments are just as vigorous. Following are some of the hotel developments taking place throughout the island.

Aruba Bucuti Beach Resort
This couples’ resort completed room renovations in August. The property, located a secluded section of Eagle Beach, offers 58 rooms and junior suites, and added 37 Tara Wing suites and four penthouses in March 2004. The resort allows one child per room in only 12 of the rooms.

Divi Resorts
Divi Resorts, which spent $42 million last year on the Divi Village Golf and Beach Resort, has opened Mulligan’s, a casual restaurant and bar at the Links at Divi Aruba Clubhouse. Both overlook the ninth hole of the course, which is located at the Divi Village Golf and Beach Resort. The luxury golf villa/timeshare suites on the course are still under construction. At least 82 of the 240 suites have been completed and are available for guests. Another 52 are scheduled to be finished by mid-2007. At the Divi Aruba Phoenix Beach Resort on Palm Beach, work continues on a development project that will more than double the size of the resort once it is completed. The development will add 140 luxury beachfront timeshare suites in four eight-story buildings.

Holiday Inn
In January, InterContinental Hotels Group announced that the owners of InterContinental properties throughout Latin America and the Caribbean will be investing $95 million to upgrade, expand and renovate their hotels. This includes the Holiday Inn Sunspree on Aruba, which has spent $5 million on the first phase of a three-year makeover. Some of the renovations began in 2005 and will be completed by the end of 2007. The Sunspree has added two restaurants and is renovating its guestrooms. It also has a new swimming pool and entertainment deck.

Hyatt Regency
The Hyatt Regency Resort & Casino on Palm Beach is overhauling and upgrading all of its guest rooms, as well as redoing its restaurants, bars, spa and the Copacabana Casino. It has a new open-air lobby and lobby bar. The lobby design is sleek and chic, with stainless steel chandeliers and alcoves filled with colorful, delicate chaise lounges. The front desk has been redesigned with marble and glass tiles. The adjacent Alfresco Lobby Bar entices guests into a patio venue overlooking the beach with canopied, stainless steel daybeds. The guestrooms are now light and airy with new Hyatt Grand Beds. Newly redesigned bathrooms feature marble vanities, luxurious robes and deluxe amenities.

Marriott
The Marriott Aruba Surf Club opened recently on Palm Beach and the next phase, the addition of wings, is nearing completion. This phase is scheduled to be finished by December. The hotel’s new swim zone was scheduled to open by the end of March, and the renovation of the public beach is complete. Meanwhile, the Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino in Aruba is also making various improvements.

Occidental
The Occidental Grand Aruba was completed last year after a one-year renovation project. The hotel offer 341 deluxe rooms and 50 Royal Club ocean view rooms and suites. The Royal Club is a VIP “hotel within a hotel” located on the seventh, eighth and ninth floors. It offers private check-in, a private restaurant and concierge, and a private swimming pool. The hotel has a large pool area with daybeds for lounging, a swim-up bar, four restaurants and a casino.

Radisson
In September the Radisson Aruba Resort & Casino opened the $5.2 million, 13,000 square foot, stand-alone, oceanfront Larimar Spa. The facility features relaxing treatment rooms; sauna and steam cabins; Vichy showers; relaxation gardens; plunge pools; dedicated areas for manicures, pedicures and hair care; and a state-of-the-art gym and fitness center. The hotel has 353 guestrooms, four restaurants and a 16,000 square foot casino.

Riu
Coming this July is the expected opening of Riu Palace Aruba. Riu purchased another hotel two years ago on Palm Beach, closed it, and is now spending $40 million this year to renovate it. The 450-room resort will have two buildings for seafront guestrooms. The resort will have a range of outdoor activities and sports options, a gymnasium, sauna, daytime entertainment program for adults, live music and a casino bar.

Sol Melia
The Spanish chain Sol Melia and development company Trusam will be building a luxury resort on Aruba. Their bid was accepted earlier this year by the Aruban government, and the hotel is scheduled to open in 2008. The project, as presented, comprises the construction of a hotel, casino, spa, beach club, several restaurants and other luxury amenities on the land occupied by the old Hotel Bushiri in the center of Oranjestad. The hotel will be built on a piece of land that spreads over almost 40,000 square meters alongside an unbroken, 330 meter stretch of beach. This will be adjacent to a major project for which the government proposes a marina, residential area and large shopping and leisure complex, including the extension of the cruise terminal.

Westin
The former Wyndham Aruba Resort Spa & Casino is going through a repositioning and has been taken over by Westin in a $20 million investment. The property operated for a while under an interim name, the Aruba Resort Spa & Casino, then was reflagged the Westin Aruba Resort & Spa by its new owners in the beginning of December. A division of Starwood Hotels & Resorts will also commence the construction of 154 two-bedroom villas on the adjacent oceanfront lot later this year. The Westin’s renovation is completed and is an example of Starwood’s new mixed-use model, which is combining hotel space with vacation ownership rentals.

Because of these and other private developments, Myrna Jansen, Aruba’s tourism authority director, believes that businesses have confidence once again in the island. “We believe that Aruba will continue to be successful, and continue its role as a tourism trailblazer in the Caribbean,” Jansen says.

Aruba sees more than one million tourists arrive each year, by cruise ship and by air, with a majority of them from the United States. With the vast developments under way, the island may reach its goal of seeing tourism increase by no less than 6 percent by the end of 2007.