The boycott of Aruba triggered by
the lack of action, or incompetence of Aruban officials as some may say,
surrounding the disappearance of Natalee Holloway is being countered by Aruba.
Over the past few months, at least one hotel in Aruba
has been sold, which indicates that investors saw bargains, probably because
soft sales lowered property values. Over the past few months, Aruba has been
investing heavily into enticements to lure cruise lines into making Aruba a
port of call, which has the effect of bringing in tourism dollars less hotel
stays, as those vacationers can sleep in their ship-board rooms. The
cruise-lines are bringing people into Aruba who would otherwise not pick Aruba
as a primary vacation destination, but will go there if it happens to be one of
several ports of call.
While this has brought dollars
into restaurants and souvenir shops, some of which sell Arubas secondary
industry items being creams and lotions, it has not increased hotel nights,
which is a major revenue stream for Arubas economy. To solve this problem,
Aruba is now building up hotel-based tourism using their tried and true
marketing techniques to increase hotel nights, rather than creating new
marketing concepts and logos.
 Over the
past few months, Boycott Watch has been contacted by several Arubans, including
one tourism official, all making the same claim that the hotel sale and
increased television advertisements indicate the boycott is over, to which
Boycott Watch has responded by correcting them - investment is not an
indication that the boycott is over, rather investor speculation and
advertisement respectively, thus indicating some people think the boycott has
reached its peak or that the Aruba economy has hit bottom and that Aruba is
looking toward a brighter future.
The most recent
economic numbers we have seen back that up, and at the same time we at Boycott
Watch would not be surprised if the boycott of Aruba, which has had a definite
effect on their economy, is waning, particularly because Natalee Holloway is no
longer in the news every day. Considering, however, the high profile of this
case, there are certainly many people who will not visit Aruba if not in memory
of Natalee Holloway, in fear of their own personal safety considering the poor
self-image Aruba created for itself.
Aruba has been
hurt by the boycott against them, and while they are working to recover from
the boycott, it remains to be seen if the tourism numbers ever return to its
former glory. While some people will continue to boycott Aruba indefinitely,
any natural growth of business may mask the boycott, but it will be seen as a
stunt in growth. Additionally, while the economic pains Aruba has seen nowhere
compare to the pain Natalee's family continues to feel, the boycott
accomplished its goal of telling Aruba that Americans stand with Natalee
Holloway's family. |
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