March 2nd, 2009 
The Aruba Tourism Authority (ATA) held its first-ever roundtable event at Time Warner Center in New York City on Feb. 5, 2009. Hotel and tour partners from Aruba presented individual property updates and promotions to more than 50 top-qualified travel agents from agencies including American Express, Valerie Wilson, Liberty Travel, Pro Travel, Altour and others.
“New York is the largest North American source market for visitors to Aruba and we place significant value in our travel agent relationships here,” said Geraldine Coutinho-Meyers, ATA’s director of North America. “We wanted to create an event where our hotel partners can spend quality one-on-one time with agents and based on the success of this event, we are planning to host roundtable events in multiple top-source markets throughout 2009.”
The Aruba partners represented at the roundtable agent dinner included: Amsterdam Manor Resort; The Aruban Resort & Casino; Aruba Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino; Bucuti Beach Resort; De Palm Tours; Divi Resorts; Divi Tamarijn Aruba All Inclusive Resort; Hyatt Regency Aruba Resort & Casino; The Mill Resort; Occidental Grand Aruba Resort; Radisson Aruba Resort, Casino & Spa; Renaissance Aruba Resort & Casino; The Westin Resort, Aruba; and Tierra del Sol Aruba Resort, Spa & Country Club.
The event also featured a presentation from the Aruba Tourism Authority on all of the new developments taking place in Aruba, including a total investment of $500 million in refurbishments and tourism updates; the new brand campaign “Meet the 90,000 Friends of Aruba” which is currently running in the United States; and the upcoming launch of the new Aruba.com which will feature a new booking engine and a social networking section for Aruba’s biggest fans.
