AOL survey shows that 72% less Americans are likely to visit Aruba now
DIARIO Aruba
4/5/2006

ORANJESTAD(AAN): It was a hard knock that Aruba took yesterday from subscribers to AOL, ‘American Online’ which is the largest Internet provider in the U.S. They participated in a survey and it indicated that the majority of them do not want to come to Aruba anymore!

Before commenting on this, DIARIO commented on a recent reportage from CBS News in the U.S. which conducted an investigation, to see how much the disappearance of Natalee Holloway is affecting Aruba’s tourism.

In an article, CBS News says that Aruba is very beautiful and that it is not surprising that tourism makes up 85% of Aruba’s economy, where 800,000 American tourists visit Aruba every year.

However, one of these Americans, Natalee Holloway disappeared 10 months ago. While the young American is being searched for once again, it seems that the constant news of Natalee’s disappearance has hit Aruba hard in the pocketbook.

According to a tourist, Jill Williams, when she told people in the U.S. that she was going to Aruba for Spring Break, they looked at her very surprised.

The article continues to say that Rob Smith of the Aruba Hospitality and Security Foundation also said that the peaceful island that he so loves, perhaps is suffering due to this case.

He said that the case is perhaps affecting our global integrity. Smith continued to say that after 10 years of growth in tourism, suddenly this has stopped. “I believe that many people think that Aruba is not safe, however, Aruba is safe”.

When the reporter from CBS News, Solorzano, approached 4 young Americans on vacation in Aruba and asked them if they feel safe on the island, they all said that without a doubt they feel very safe in Aruba.

A few teenagers with whom Solorzano spoke said that the disappearance of Natalee made them more prudent, but this didn’t stop their families from coming to Aruba.

Tourist and father Ed Williams said to the CBS reporter: “100% we believe that it is safe and we feel that Arubans did everything possible to try to solve the mystery.”

Rob Smith explained that perhaps other factors contributed to tourism being lower than normal, such as the fact the cost of accommodations is higher, while many Americans were affected by and worried about the hurricane season.

AOL SURVEY

However, America Online now has a survey on their web site and asks: ‘How likely are you to visit Aruba since Natalee Holloway vanished?’

The answer that no native son wants to hear follows: ‘less likely than before’ is ahead with 72%, at the time when some 75,000 people gave their opinion on this online survey, which is not a scientific one. Millions of Americans who are members of AOL saw this survey which appeared in large format on their computer screens.

Although Arubans do not feel this is fair, now the moment has arrived to conclude that perhaps the mismanagement of island leaders, as well as some in the judicial field, who do not know how to correctly deal with the American media, can be guilty of this ‘lack of good judgment’.

For you to raise your voice and tell our main clients (Americans) for them to kiss our behinds, is very probably what has put us in the position to start to feel the economic pain that is barely now showing itself.

Pray some more. Hotel workers already know how the real situation is from last week! Many were sent home because ‘there is no work to be done’. Now, in April, occupation is this bad. How will it be this coming May?