AIRPORT, AIRLINES & CRUISES - Aruba fared extremely well during the 2008 cruise ship season! According to the Aruba Cruise Tourism, Aruba welcomed 556,090 cruise passengers in 2008 which translates to an increase of 13.4% compared to 2007 and an overall 54% increase over the past 10 years, 1998 – 2008. Top producers for Aruba were Royal Caribbean International and Holland America Line. Aruba welcomed 131 unique cruise ships visits of which approximately 13 were first/maiden calls. For more information please visit www.arubabycruise.com, email at info@arubabycruise.com or call (297) 583-3648.
- The main shopping area at Aruba’s Reina Beatrix Internal Airport is expanding. Recently the Aruba Airport Authority (AAA.) welcomed the Lacoste store as its newest addition. Lacoste operates a duty free store, offering a great assortment of fashion articles to departing passengers. For more information please contact Mr. Hendrik Croes at the Aruba Airport Authority at (297) 524-2420 or email at h.croes@airportaruba.com
- The Aruba Airport Authority (AAA) successfully hosted Mr. Allan Hurr, US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) representative visiting Aruba to do preparatory work for the upcoming TSA inspection. Aruba is one of the few islands in the Caribbean area that gives pre-clearance service to passengers travelling to the US. Every year TSA together with the Department of Civil Aviation performs a rigorous inspection on the procedures, training and general performance of the security officers at Queen Beatrix International Airport. During this pre-inspection visit, the TSA representative, Mr. Allan Hurr said that he was very satisfied with the security level at the airport. For more information please contact Mr. Hendrik Croes at (297) 524-2420 or email at h.croes@airportaruba.com.
CULTURAL - The Aruba Post Office introduced three new stamps commemorating the Baranca Sunu Cave “Tunnel of Love” (175 cents), the “Fontein Cave” (200 cents) and the “Quadirikiri Cave” (225 cents). The new stamps are available at postal office locations in Oranjestad, San Nicola, Santa Cruz and Port of Call from April 1st 2009 till 31st of March 2010. For more information please email at philatelic@postaruba.com or call (297) 582-1900.
- Aruba will host the Kingdom Games July 22 – 27, 2009. The Department of Culture is organizing a series of cultural events to present to the delegates from each participating country, the Netherlands, Dutch Antilles and Aruba. Each delegation consists of 25 participants and 5 group leaders. The events will be held on 4 nights featuring an Aruban night, a Dutch night and an Antillean night during which each corresponding delegation will present their art to the public while on the final night, all delegates will participate in one cultural presentation. Venue for the nightly presentations will be announced at a later date. For more information please contact the Department of Culture at (297) 582-2185.
- Biblioteca Nacional Aruba (the Public Library) is celebrating 60 years and has invited Mr. Gustav Nouel to do a 60 day individual exposition remembering the past six decades. The exposition will start on August 20th until October 20th and is a joint project of Multi Media International, Toyota Art Gallery and Musa Art House. For more information please visit www.nouel.net or call Biblioteca Nacional Aruba at (297) 582-1580.
GENERAL- Aruba will host the 21st regional meeting of the Interpol in 2011, the “Conferencia de La Americas de Interpol”. Chile was the host country this year while Bogota, Colombia hosted it two years ago. Over 40 countries will attend with over 200 police commissioners. More information on this conference will be available at a later time.
- www.ArubaBestPages.com was recently launched at the Rembrandt Café. The website is based on Google-Earth where all street locations, addresses and directions will be available for searchers. Interested parties, both private and businesses can register for free and get listed. Future plans include the development of e mobile version that can be downloaded onto handheld devises and will be linked to personal pages such as myspace and facebook. The version will also be available for download on GPS devises. For more information please call (297) 593-8686 or email at sales@arubabestpages.com.
- It’s Turtle Season. The season of the Leatherback Sea Turtle, known as Driekiel is on. There are several nests on Eagle Beach as well as on other beach areas. These nests are protected by red and white striped barricades featuring a poster with information. Turtugaruba, the volunteer organization, has already started monitoring the areas in the early mornings. Last year they spotted, monitored and protected more than 48 nests of Driekiel on Eagle Beach and more on Boca Grandi and Parke Arikok. To contact Edith, write to turtugaruba@hotmail.com or wal@setarnet.aw. You can contact the turtle hotline at (297) 592-9393.
- Aruba Bank sponsors IDefre’s Four Day Walk for fifth year! Idefre, the government’s sports departments has been organizing these fun four day walks for 8 years. The total number of walkers exceeds 3000 per night. The monies raised are donated to a good cause. The walks are scheduled for June 15, 16, 17 and 18 and start at 6.30 pm in various districts of the island. All routes are between 4 and 6 kilometers. Registration can be done at the Idefre offices or on Aruba Bank’s website www.arubabank.com.
May 12, 2009
(Sources: Amigoe di Aruba, BonDia, The News, Aruba Today, hotel/company press releases)
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