Q & A with Edison BriesenAruba´s Tourism Minister

by Jose Carlos de Santiago

Aruba is ready to launch a number of major investments aimed at enhancing the stock of hotel rooms, refurbishing the seaport services and the cruise terminal.

Based on a policy of hands-on participation in Europe´s largest travel fairs and tradeshows, the Caribbean island is stressing its interest in that regional market, “a huge market so full of possibilities we can´t afford to let go of,” said Mr. Briesen in this exclusive interview with Caribbean News Digital during the latest ITB Fair in Berlin.

Q.- Minister Briesen, can you tell us what new actions Aruba has in the offing to enhance its stock of hotel rooms? What agreements have you reached for the enhancement of the marina?

A.- There are eleven groups that have made an offer to the pilot plan group in charge of this task and we have already wrapped up the first phase and we´re now ready to get down to the second phase. Six of those group didn´t make the grade, so we hope now to cut a final deal with one of the remaining five groups in the contest.

As part of that same deal, we´re involved in the remodeling of Oranjestad´s seaport. There are three groups interested in building a marina there, especially one group from Spain, but for the time being it´s way too hard to have several projects going on at the same time.

We´re also bound to get the cruise terminal a new lease on life, but we need to do that when the cruise season hits the off-peak period. One of the terminal will be altogether streamlined and fitted to provide a much better service to these traveling tourists.

A major hotel, the RIU Palace, is going to close for two years in 2006 to add 250 new rooms to it. In the same breath, the Grand Allegro is going to open a few days from now, and the Wyndham is planning a new sharetime project with some 160 deluxe units.

Q.- The San Nicolas zone, which is one of the expansions this island could have, is right now offering new possibilities to hoteliers based on an initiative wielded by Oscar Niemeyer´s group. What can you say about that?

A.- We want to open up a second tourist corridor at the Cerro Colorado area, in Baby Beach and Boca Grande, and we´ve made the decision of exploring the possibility of building a new road in that region. We´re earmarking between 50 and 60 million florins –some $35 million- to make this change and build a new road that could turn out to be a window of opportunity in terms of tourist development.

Here in Berlin I´ve been talking with the people of SuperClubs and they have shown a tremendous interest in that particular zone. There are Spanish groups, like Iberostar, with similar intentions. However, we´re now waiting to see how we´re going to make our next move as far as expansion is concerned. We also want to sit down with Oscar Niemeyer´s group to find out what new possibilities are looming in the horizon in this sense.

Q.- How many new hotel rooms could be built in Aruba?

A.- Right now we have 7,000 hotel rooms. I believe the expansion and construction of new lodgings could make that figure rise to approximately 10,000 accommodations. After that, we´ll have to slow down a little bit.

Q.- As to communications with other markets, like Europe and Asia, what is Aruba doing to get new air connections?

A.- We have a tad of a troublesome situation as far as air connections are concerned. However, it´s even harder sometimes to get a room in Aruba because most of the hotels on the island do business with the U.S., which is by far our largest outbound market with approximately 73 percent of the total volume. Nevertheless, we´re committed to sticking to the diversification policy. The European market is huge and full of possibilities. The German market alone accounts for 84 million visitors, and I certainly believe we need to take advantage of those possibilities.

Q.- What do you make of the possibility of reaching agreements with other nations in the region, like Puerto Rico, to piece together a multi-destination package for the European market?

A.- The Caribbean is a one-and-only travel destination, and the idea of making multi-destination offers has been around for a long time. However, when it comes to agreeing on a single policy or making all the countries work in a single travel package, problems arise. Far from debating who will get the upper hand in a certain deal, we need to lure tourists to the Caribbean. Our competitors are not in the region, but in Hawaii, the Pacific Rim, Europe, Las Vegas, Disney World.

Q.- Can you reveal the names of the companies that are interested in investing in Aruba´s hotel industry and those willing to do it in the seaport?

A.- In the hotel sector, well there are local and foreign groups alike. There are building companies and others linked to hotel management and casinos. The Truhan Group, for instance, sent us a letter informing us of their interest in bankrolling the move of the seaport and the rehabilitation of its facilities.

Both Westin and Holiday Inn are interested as well. There´s a great demand in Aruba due to the success of its tourist industry, the political stability of the island nation, and the safe environment for travelers and investors. Those are assets businesspeople pay a lot of attention to.

Q.- Is there anything else you´d like to add?

A.- I think we´ve got a few challenges on the road ahead, especially now that the government´s finances are in a little bit of trouble. However, as our economy branches out, we´ll manage to get out of this situation two to three years from now. That doesn´t imply, of course, that the development of our travel industry and that of the country as a whole are going to get bogged down.