Aruba Tourism Authority (A.T.A.) with meetings in Europe
ORANJESTAD - During the week, Aruba Tourism Authority, Ronella Croes, CEO, and Sanju Luidens, Chief Marketing Officer, as well as Tirso Tromp, Area Director of the region, and representatives of Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium, attended a series of important meetings with focuses on tourism promotion and collaboration.
They reviewed the plan for 2025 and met with strategic partners and the advertising agency of A.T.A. in Europe.
As a key part, A.T.A. had a meeting with airline KLM, where he met with Bas Geressen, Director of KLM Netherlands, Jurian de Vogt, Network Planning, Marjolein Kesselaar, Marketing Executive, KLM Netherlands, and David Vinke, Commercial Director, Benelux.
As the national airline of the Netherlands operating from Schiphol, KLM has several flights connecting various European countries with Aruba. The objective of the meeting was to strengthen and explore collaboration and strategy between A.T.A. and KLM to promote Aruba as a preferred destination for Dutch and European tourists. It also evaluated the air seat capacity expected for 2025 and at what point expand it and change the aircraft type flying to Aruba to include the premium comfort class. What is the projected air seat capacity for 2025 at the moment? It shows more capacity for Aruba. They also covered the topic of development and the future of KLM in general and Aruba.
The second largest partner in the Netherlands for travel and holidays is the TUI. They met with Arjen Kers, Managing Director of TUI Netherlands and Belgium, Rob Oostendorp, Product Director Long Haul, and Katrina Vansteenkiste, Account Manager Belgium and the Netherlands, on different points and the continuation of a strong collaboration between A.T.A. and TUI to promote Aruba as a preferred destination among Dutch tourists. During the meeting, they discussed opportunities to attract more quality guests to Aruba. The focus, among other things, is on the golf segment. By 2025, TUI will have two weekly flights between Aruba and the Netherlands. They also discussed the overall outlook for 2025 and opportunities in promotion and marketing.
As part of A.T.A.'s diversification strategy and high-quality guest attraction, they researched the Swiss market in 2023. Based on the results, they decided to work on this market and launch efforts to expand it. As such, he visited Switzerland and Zurich, where he continued to focus on air connections from this market. A.T.A. is working on possibilities for flights to connect Switzerland with Aruba and other countries such as Germany and Italy. Zurich is a significant hub for aviation and tourism and offers a unique opportunity to enhance the link between Aruba and Switzerland.
They also met with an advertising and digital strategy agency for A.T.A. in Europe. Headquartered in Amsterdam, DEPT is an international digital agency. Among other things, the identified opportunities to use technology and data to improve the attraction of quality guests visiting Aruba.
Lastly, they visited with representatives of other European markets, including Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and England, as well as A.T.A. Europe. They summarized strategies, actions, and results and reviewed plans for 2025.