Aruba’s a Hit on the High Seas As Hundreds of Thousands Cruise Passengers Visit Island in First Months of 2005!

Aruba continues winning popularity contests on the open seas in 2005 as the Caribbean destination’s cruise business skyrockets! Aruba, where happiness lives, boasts booming cruise numbers in the first four months of 2005, as over 14,000 lucky sea-goers touch land on the tropical oasis compared to 2004. From January through April 2005, the island oasis is proud to announce that it played host to 143 cruise calls over 131 in 2004, a spike of 9.61%. A whopping 256,589 cruise traveler also made landfall on Aruba, surpassing 242,101 in 2004, representing a notable 5.98% increase.

Aruba is a bona-fide hit on the high seas in 2005! The Caribbean powerhouse’s extraordinary hotels/resorts, roster of unique land and sea activities, spectacular spas, extraordinary international cuisine, exciting cultural, sporting and musical events and more, offers so much to its honored cruise guests. Aruba’s near-perfect weather and award-winning friendly people are also noteworthy contributors to the island’s robust cruise tourism business. It is no wonder that Aruba’s repeat visitor rate is a sustained 40%, the highest of any Caribbean destinations.

Typically, Aruba’s annual high cruise season runs from October to December and low cruising season runs from May through September. Aruba’s April 2005 cruise numbers were exceptionally strong, with 65,930 people calling port on island, over 56,940 in 2004, representing a 15.8% increase (nearly 8990 more passengers). While cruise calls in April 2005 toped off at 35, a remarkable rise of nearly 12% over 2004 numbers.

“2005 is shaping up to be another exceptional year for cruise tourism in Aruba,” said Managing Director for the Aruba Tourism Authority, Myrna Jansen. “For the past several years, the island has been able to maintain an average of 500,000 cruise passengers annually and with the strong figures we’ve seen in the first few months of 2005 alone, we expect this year will exceed previous numbers reinforcing Aruba as one of the Caribbean’s premier cruise destinations.”