ABOUT ARUBA TOURISM AUTHORITY

The Aruba Tourism Authority is a government department funded by public funds. It has led the tourism marketing activities for over 50 years, diversifying markets and intensifying its activities in the marketplace. As the organization functions under government regulations in a private sector environment, it lobbies for more flexibility and independence in implementing its marketing plan. The Aruba Tourism Authority shares the government's macro-economic objective in further stimulating tourism as its key economic activity. Aruba Tourism Authority's general marketing objective is to invest in markets and in marketing activities, which will result in an increase of stay-over visitors. To achieve this objective, the Aruba Tourism Authority works to stimulate the interest of visitors in defined markets, encouraging them to choose Aruba for their holidays, meetings, incentives and conventions. The Aruba Tourism Authority's scope of responsibilities in the continuous successful development of Aruba's tourism industry is reflected in various success stories in the history of tourism and, in particular, in the annual increase of visitor, occupancy, expenditure and room nights. The main purpose of the Aruba Tourism Authority is to function as a leader in all forms of marketing, and promotion, online and offline, tourist information and customer service, sponsorship and organization of special events and hosting of partners, media, agents and special guests.
About In line with the existence of specific committees for each section, the Market Intelligence and Promotion Committee was created in the framework of the 67th meeting of the Executive Council (Osaka, Japan) in September 2001.

Mission Statement The Committee 's main function is defined as follow: To ensure that the WTO, the General Assembly, the Executive Council, the Regional Commissions, the Business Council and its Secretariat assign a high level of priority to market intelligence and to the study of promotional techniques, including the most appropriate techniques and instruments for the evaluation of promotional activities and programmes. In accordance with this function, the Committee shall act as an advisory body of the Organization in matters such as: Identifying activities of interest to Members for inclusion in the programme of work of the Market Intelligence and Promotion Department;

Establishing priorities in the execution of the WTO Programme of Work in this field; Establishing the depth and the content of the activities, studies and reports carried out by the Department; Assuming a monitoring function with regard to the degree of compliance with the activities identified; and Implementing a communication system using new technologies in order to know and evaluate the tourism markets from different and complementary national perspectives.

The Committee and its members undertake: To raise the awareness of the Members of the Organization regarding the need to promote and improve market intelligence and studies on promotional techniques; To favour processes that make it possible to achieve the objectives established by the Committee; To actively represent the Committee in each of the WTO's Regional Commissions and its Business Council; The Committee shall pay special attention to ensuring that the Secretariat disposes of adequate human and financial resources for the execution of its programme, and shall support the Secretariat's efforts to obtain pertinent case studies from all over the world, for the purposes of compiling the information necessary for the execution of the activities assigned to the Secretariat in the area of market intelligence and promotion.

Members The initial mandate of the Committee was established in decision CE/DEC/3(LXVII) of the Executive Council, for the period 2001-2003. In light of the fact that the Committee was not formed until October 2002 due to the implementation of the Tourism Recovery Committee, it was decided in its first meeting (Mexico D.F., Mexico October 2002) that "the countries propose to their regional commissions that the mandate be extended for two more years, up until the holding of the General Assembly of 2005". According to the decision of the General Assembly of 2003 (Beijing, China, October 2003) the participation of the Regional Commissions in the different committees was extended until 2007. Thus so was the mandate of the members of the Market Intelligence and Promotion Committee following the decision of the Executive Council Meeting held in the framework of the General Assembly. The members of the Market Intelligence and Promotion Committee for the period 2003-2007 are: President Vice President Members Mexico Thailand Argelia Botswana Colombia

India Jordan Maldives Malta Spain Associate Member Representative of the Affiliate Members Aruba European Travel Commission (ETC) Federal Association of the German Tourism Industry (BTW) Tourisme Montral International Federation of Tour Operators (IFTO) Travel Industry Association of America (TIA)

Other countries can participate as observers if they so request. In the case of Affiliate Members, they must also have the approval of the Committee.

Meetings The Committee shall hold one annual meeting and maintain regular communication via the Internet throughout the year. Committee meetings in years when there is a General Assembly shall be held in parallel with the General Assembly. For years with no General Assembly, the Committee meeting shall be held wherever the Committee decides. The Committee meeting shall preferably be made to coincide with other types of meetings of the Organization. Meetings shall be held only if half plus one of its members are in attendance (simple majority). First Meeting (Mexico, 14 and 15th October 2002)

Tourism 2020 Vision

Tourism 2020 Vision is the World Tourism Organization's long-term forecast and assessment of the development of tourism up to the first 20 years of the new millennium. An essential outcome of the Tourism 2020 Vision are quantitative forecasts covering a 25 years period, with 1995 as the base year and forecasts for 2010 and 2020. Although the evolution of tourism in the last few years has been irregular, UNWTO maintains its long-term forecast for the moment. The underlying structural trends of the forecast are believed not to have significantly changed. Experience shows that in the short term, periods of faster growth (1995, 1996, 2000) alternate with periods of slow growth (2001 to 2003). While the pace of growth till 2000 actually exceeded the Tourism 2020 Vision forecast, it is generally expected that the current slowdown will be compensated in the medium to long term.

UNWTO's Tourism 2020 Vision forecasts that international arrivals are expected to reach nearly 1.6 billion by the year 2020. Of these worldwide arrivals in 2020, 1.2 billion will be intraregional and 378 million will be long-haul travellers. The total tourist arrivals by region shows that by 2020 the top three receiving regions will be Europe (717 million tourists), East Asia and the Pacific (397 million) and the Americas (282 million), followed by Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. East Asia and the Pacific, Asia, the Middle East and Africa are forecasted to record growth at rates of over 5% year, compared to the world average of 4.1%. The more mature regions Europe and Americas are anticipated to show lower than average growth rates. Europe will maintain the highest share of world arrivals, although there will be a decline from 60 per cent in 1995 to 46 per cent in 2020.

Long-haul travel worldwide will grow faster, at 5.4 per cent per year over the period 1995-2020, than intraregional travel, at 3.8 per cent. Consequently the ratio between intraregional and long-haul travel will shift from around 82:18 in 1995 to close to 76:24 in 2020. Tourism 2020 Vision

The Tourism 2020 Vision is a set of 7 reports, including 6 regional volumes with long term forecasts for Africa, Americas, East Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Middle East and South Asia and a global report on World Forecast and profiles of market segments.

Tourism Indicators
Inbound Tourism International Tourist Arrivals This section contains data on international tourist arrivals by region, subregion and country as well as data on the top tourism destinations, top emerging tourism destinations, tourist arrivals by purpose of visit and by means of transport. It also features data on international tourist arrivals by region of origin. >> Tourist arrivals by region, subregion and country of destination >> World's Top Tourism Destinations (2005) The 10 most popular tourist destinations in the world measured by international tourist arrivals - see Tourism Highlights. >> World's Top Emerging Tourism Destinations for period 1995-2004 The fast growing destinations at a rate double the world average. >> Tourist Arrivals by Purpose of visit (2005) Distribution of tourist arrivals by purpose of visit for the world and by region. >> Tourist Arrivals by means of transport (2005) Data on tourist arrivals by means of transport for the world and by region. International Tourism Receipts

>> Tourism Receipts (US$) by region, subregion and country of destination >> Tourism Receipts (Euro) by region, subregion and country of destination

International Tourism 2010: Multi-speed recovery

MADRID, SPAIN 17 JANUARY 2011 International tourism recovered strongly in 2010 according to the Advance Release of the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer. International tourist arrivals were up by almost 7% to 935 million, following the 4% decline in 2009 the year hardest hit by the global economic crisis. The vast majority of destinations worldwide posted positive figures, sufficient to offset recent losses or bring them close to this target. However, recovery came at different speeds and was primarily driven by emerging economies.

Multi-speed recovery for international tourism in 2010 Boosted by improved economic conditions worldwide, international tourism has recovered faster than expected from the impacts of the global financial crisis and economic recession of late 2008 and 2009. International tourist arrivals were up by 6.7% compared to 2009, with positive growth reported in all world regions. Worldwide, the number of international tourist arrivals reached 935 million, up 58 million from 2009 and 22 million more than the pre-crisis peak level of 2008 (913 million). While all regions posted growth in international tourist arrivals, emerging economies remain the main drivers of this recovery. This multi-speed recovery, lower in advanced economies (+5%), faster in emerging ones (+8%), is a reflection of the broader global economic situation and is set to dominate 2011 and the foreseeable future. The recovery in international tourism is good news, especially for those developing countries that rely on the sector for much-needed revenue and jobs, said UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai. The challenge now will be to consolidate this growth over the coming years amid a still uncertain global economic environment. Asia (+13%) was the first region to recover and the strongest growing region in 2010. International tourist arrivals into Asia reached a new record at 204 million last year, up from 181 million in 2009. Africa (+6% to 49 million), the only region to show positive figures in 2009, maintained growth during 2010, benefiting from increasing economic dynamism and the hosting of events such as the FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Results returned to double digits in the Middle East (+14% to 60 million) where almost all destinations grew by 10% or more. In Europe (+3% to 471 million) recovery was slower than in other regions due to the air traffic disruption caused by the eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano and the economic uncertainty affecting the euro zone. However, the sector gained momentum from the second half of the year and some individual countries performed well above the regional average, but this was not sufficient to bring overall results above the losses of 2009.

The Americas (+8% to 151 million) rebounded from the decline in 2009 brought on by the economic hardship suffered in North America and the impact of the influenza A(H1N1) outbreak. The return to growth in the US economy has helped improve the regions results as a whole, as did the increasing regional integration in Central and South America and the vitality of Latin American economies. Growth was strongest in South America (+10%). Subregional results clearly reflect this multi-speed recovery. A few subregions such as North and Sub-Saharan Africa and South-East Asia were not impacted by the global crisis and reported continuous growth throughout 2009 and 2010. Among the subregions affected by the crisis in 2009, North-East and South Asia, North and South America, and Western Europe saw growth in arrivals in 2010 fully compensate for previous losses and exceeding pre-crisis peak levels. The Caribbean and Central America are just back at 2008 levels, while in Central and Eastern Europe, and Southern and Mediterranean Europe growth was still insufficient to make up for the lost tourist flows of 2009. In contrast, Northern Europe did not return to positive growth in 2010. Growth in international tourism receipts continued to lag somewhat behind that of arrivals during 2010, as is the trend during periods of recovery. Among the top outbound tourism markets in terms of expenditure abroad, emerging economies continued to drive growth: China (+17%), the Russian Federation (+26%), Saudi Arabia (+28%) and Brazil (+52%). Of the traditional source markets, Australia (+9%), Canada (+8%), Japan (+7%) and France (+4%) rebounded, while more modest growth at 2% came from the USA, Germany and Italy. On the opposite side of the spectrum, expenditure abroad from the UK was still down by 4% in 2010. 2010 in review International tourism demand held up well in 2010, despite persistent economic uncertainty in some major markets, the natural disasters suffered in some countries, political and social unrest in others, the serious disruption of air travel following a volcanic eruption in Iceland last April and the problematic weather conditions in parts of Europe and the USA in December. Tourism has once again proven to be a highly resilient sector. Nevertheless, we need to work closer and better towards increased integration and cooperation between all players involved in the tourism value chain to increase our competitiveness and respond more effectively to challenges such as the ones that emerged from the closure of European air space last April, said Mr. Rifai. 2010 also saw the rise in importance of mega-events sport, culture and exhibitions - in terms of their extraordinary ability to attract visitors and position host countries as attractive tourism destinations. Notable examples include the Winter Olympics in Canada, the Shanghai Expo in China, the FIFA World Cup in South Africa and the Commonwealth Games in India. Confirming these trends, the over 300 experts from around the globe who constitute the UNWTO Panel of Experts evaluated 2010s overall performance very positively and much above their expectations at the beginning of the year. The Panel maintained this positive outlook for 2011.

Growth to continue in 2011 Following a year of global recovery in 2010, growth is expected to continue for the tourism sector in 2011 but at a slower pace. UNWTO forecasts international tourist arrivals to grow at between 4% to 5% in 2011, a rate slightly above the long-term average. Persistent high unemployment remains a major concern, with the gradual recovery in employment expected for 2011 still too weak to compensate for the jobs lost during the economic crisis. The recent tendency towards introducing and increasing taxation on travel as a means of balancing public accounts represents a further challenge to the sector. While we fully understand the need for fiscal consolidation, UNWTO will continue to alert governments to the fact that these taxes seriously affect tourisms proven capacity to stimulate job creation and economic growth, impacting negatively on their own economies and on the development possibilities of emerging economies, said Mr. Rifai. Relevant links: