boycott ain't working?
The following from the Prosecutors office and confirmed by the MSM:
ORANJESTAD - The team in charge of the investigation in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway has a strong suspicion that the young lady in question has lost her life as a consequence of a punishable crime committed against her.
Also, the team is of opinion that there are person(s)who have more information that have not given statements to the police. With this communication, the investigative team is asking all persons who can give more information in relation to the case of Natalee Holloway to contact the police. The team guarantees that all persons who call will be able to speak directly to commissioner Dompig and will remain anonymous.
After seven months of investigation we finally get this acknowledgment … “the disappearance of Natalee Holloway has a strong suspicion that the young lady in question has lost her life as a consequence of a punishable crime committed against her”.
I guess all the other theories can now be put to rest, runaway, drowning, etc.
Did we really have to go beyond Gerold Dompig’s statement, “these boys are guilty as Hell“.
I think the boycott is having a detrimental effect on the Aruban hotel industry, which the Aruban officials are trying to avoid admitting.
The Aruba Tourism Authority and the Central Bank of Aruba have only just now released the numbers for the July, 2005 hotel occupancy rate, and there are no numbers yet for Aug thru Dec, 2005.
We do have this from the CBA, posted, I think, in Oct, 2005:
"ORANJESTAD-The amount of stay-over arrivals in Aruba grew by 10.6 percent in June 2005 in comparison to June 2004. With a total of 59,622 stay-over arrivals in June 2005 it is the busiest June month in the history of tourism on the island. The average hotel occupancy rate stood at 78.3 percent in June 2005 in comparison to 70.7 percent in June 2004, an increase of 7.6 percentage points. For the second consecutive year there is no low-season in Aruba."
NOTE, how things were in June, when most people were already booked into the hotels, and before there was a call for a boycott for Natalee.
Then this was posted by CBA:
"November 8th 2005, Aruba.
ORANJESTAD-According to the monthly bulletin released by the Central Bank of Aruba on November 8th, average hotel occupancy rates fell by 6.2 percentage points in September 2005 in comparison to September 2004. The average hotel occupancy rate stood at 69.3 percent in September 2005, the lowest occupancy rate since June 2003. The number of stay-over arrivals for September 2005 is not given as of yet by the Aruba Tourism Authority. However a decline in stay-over arrivals is expected. This may be attributed to the busiest hurricane season on record, record breaking energy costs and the Natalee Holloway affaire."
NOW, we find out that after having June, 2005 with an increase over June, 2004 of 10.6%, and after Natalee's disappearance and the botching by ALE of her case became generally known, for July, 2005 over July, 2004 there was an increase of only 0.04%. So, there was, in one month, a year-to-year visitor increase comparison drop from 10.6% down to 0.04% of visitors.
THEN, on Nov 8th, CBA reported the average hotel occupancy rates fell by 6.2% in September, 2005 in comparison to September, 2004.
SO, although Aug, 2005 isn't reported, we do have:
June-05 compared to June-04: s/o visitors up by 10.6%.
July-05 compared to July-04: s/o visitors up by 0.04%.
Aug.-05 compared to Aug.-04: not reported.
Sept-05 compared to Sept-04: s/o visitors fell by 6.2%.
IF, we could see the actual hotel occupancy numbers for Aug thru Dec, 2005, we would see just how effective the boycott has been thus far.
The new high-powered advertising group is going to focus on corporate conference and other kinds of group trips to Aruba. Maybe that will offset the American vacationers who have sympathy for Natalee and Beth, and go elsewhere for their island vacations. It may be enough to keep Aruba afloat. We will have to wait and see.