11 March 2008

ARUBA CELEBRATES RECORD NUMBER OF VISITORS IN 2007

Record numbers of British sun seekers are discovering the sun drenched Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba.

Preliminary figures released by the Aruba Tourism Authority (ATA) reveal that UK arrivals have increased by an impressive 20.5 per cent during 2007 compared with 2006. Growth out of the UK is leading all of the established European markets.

In 2007, 9,045 UK nationals visited Aruba compared with 7,506 in 2006. The total increase from all markets is 8.56% over 2006 figures, with 753,816 arrivals breaking the 2005 existing record of 732,514.

Joanna Walding the ATA’s UK representation manager welcomed the results: “We are really excited by these preliminary figures for 2007 which reveal that consumer and trade awareness of Aruba continues to grow in the UK.

“This year we will focus our marketing energies on a consumer print advertising campaign scheduled from May to October, a London taxi promotion and continue to support our key UK tour operator partners including First Choice, Kuoni, Thomas Cook Signature and Thomson Worldwide to build on 2007’s great success.

“We are looking forward to another positive year, with indications from our tour operators that bookings are already up for 2008.”

Aruba lies just 15 miles off the coast of South America and is a melting pot of South American and Dutch influences. With no rainy season, Aruba is bathed in sunshine year-round with an average temperature of 28° C each day. Twenty-five UK tour operators now feature Aruba.

www.aruba.com

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For media information, please contact:

Rebecca Genin at rebecca@saltmarshpr.co.uk or

Clair Horwood at clair@saltmarshpr.co.uk

Tel: 020 7928 1600
Fax: 020 7928 1700

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