MORE ARUBA PROPAGANDA--WONDER HOW MUCH THIS WRITER GOT PAID?
I am making a wild guess that this associated press writer, Fritz Faerber, got paid by the ATA (Aruban Tourism Authority) to write this long, overdrawn and overstated article about how great and wonderful Aruba is. However, we all here at Aruban Boycott know the hidden truths, darkness and evil this island holds. Don't be fooled!
ORANJESTAD, Aruba—Given a choice between a snowy mountain and a sandy beach, I prefer the cold. But my wife is from Miami and my infant son howls when exposed to a chill. So this year I deferred to them, and we headed to Aruba.
I got a glimpse of the island's beauty some 15 years ago, as I looked out the window of a puddle-jumper circling Aruba during a stopover en route to Trinidad. About 20 miles long and 6 miles wide, Aruba is carpeted in some areas with green, scraggly vegetation and a few steep hills, while the north side is rugged, desert-like terrain, peppered with cacti and wild rock formations. White sand rings the south and west shores, and the azure water demands a visit.
It doesn't disappoint. (Really? Please pause why I gag...)
The temperature hovers year-round at about 80 degrees. The water is gorgeous on the southern beaches with their sugary white sand. And Aruba's main source of income is tourism, so visitors are always made to feel welcome.
In fact, the Aruba Tourism Authority is promoting the island with a new campaign: "Aruba—90,000 Friends You Haven't Met Yet." More than a half-million Americans visit Aruba each year. (Did you do your journalistic fact checking on those "ficticious" figures, Fritz?)
Huge cruise ships dock daily at Oranjestad and disgorge crowds of passengers to shop or grab a meal in the crowded downtown. Our group of a dozen friends and family stayed a couple miles away, right off Eagle Beach in a condo development called Oceania Residences where visitors rent units from owners—http://www.arubacondo.com.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/travel/ci_11871560?nclick_check=1
I got a glimpse of the island's beauty some 15 years ago, as I looked out the window of a puddle-jumper circling Aruba during a stopover en route to Trinidad. About 20 miles long and 6 miles wide, Aruba is carpeted in some areas with green, scraggly vegetation and a few steep hills, while the north side is rugged, desert-like terrain, peppered with cacti and wild rock formations. White sand rings the south and west shores, and the azure water demands a visit.
It doesn't disappoint. (Really? Please pause why I gag...)
The temperature hovers year-round at about 80 degrees. The water is gorgeous on the southern beaches with their sugary white sand. And Aruba's main source of income is tourism, so visitors are always made to feel welcome.
In fact, the Aruba Tourism Authority is promoting the island with a new campaign: "Aruba—90,000 Friends You Haven't Met Yet." More than a half-million Americans visit Aruba each year. (Did you do your journalistic fact checking on those "ficticious" figures, Fritz?)
Huge cruise ships dock daily at Oranjestad and disgorge crowds of passengers to shop or grab a meal in the crowded downtown. Our group of a dozen friends and family stayed a couple miles away, right off Eagle Beach in a condo development called Oceania Residences where visitors rent units from owners—http://www.arubacondo.com.
Click HERE to read the rest of this pathetic and blatant BS.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/travel/ci_11871560?nclick_check=1
17 comments:
Aruba: No One Ever Dies Here!Meet your 90,000 new, non-murdering friends!by Amelie Gillette February 24, 2009 When your island nation/tourist destination has been well-publicized in the US as "the last place that poor woman's daughter was seen alive" clearly you're going to have a bit of a marketing issue. But Aruba is protesting "But nothing bad ever happens here! We're so friendly!" a little too much:
Instead of ending with the "90,000 Friends You Haven't Met Yet" tagline, Lewis Black should have just turned away from the adorable little girl and addressed the camera, "Does she look like a kidnapper to you? Come to Aruba!" because that's the not-so-subtle point of this Aruban friends campaign.
But the Lewis Black curmudgeon on the beach commercials aren't the worst part. If you live in New York City, you've seen Aruba's dubious, relentless happiness plastered all over the subway, turning several cars into torture chambers where the walls are slowly closing in on you, the smiles of your new Aruban friends inching ever closer like sharp spikes.
Like this guy:
What does he want with you anyhow? Why is he so eager to become your friend, hmm? Who wants to make 90,000 friends on vacation to begin with?
Or this guy:
"Just look at all these cacti! There's a huge national park! So many places to hide a body..er, whoops! I meant, the burrowing owl has so many places to hide. We have so many owls!"
Then there's these kids, who were clearly on their way to a Bennetton ad when Aruba handed them a couple of surfboards:
"Kidnapping? Nope. Don't know anything about that. The windsurfing and steel-drumming are great in Aruba, though!"
They might as well just pass out "Non-threatening Friend" t-shirts for every Aruban to wear at all times. It would be just as effective and probably cheaper
Aruba- "90,000 Friends You Haven't Met Yet," and it will only take THREE of them to make sure you never meet anyone else again. No Justice for Natalee- No Tourism for Aruba
Sorry - but I wouldn't visit a place that allows a cover-op of an American tourist. Black should be ashamed of himself. I guess when you waited so long to make it in teh business, you'll take any job - Black proved that - and he SUCKS as a comedian!
IF ONLY LOWE NY HAD GOT A DIRECTOR TO DIRECT THESE SPOTS, THEY COULD HAVE STOOD A CHANCE. BUT NO, IT'S ALL GOT TO BE ABOUT ONE MAN'S ROTTEN EGO. **** THE 90 000 NEW FRIENDS AND LEWIS BLACK, ONLY ONE EGO MUST BE FED. HOW VERY UNFORTUNATE.
Aruba spends $10 million annually on ads in North America, per Nielsen Monitor-Plus.
Hey Aruba! I don't need any more "friends." I can't stand the ones I've got. Just keep the medical waste off the beach and the daiquiris flowing.
Hey anonymous---"Aruba- "90,000 Friends You Haven't Met Yet,"
RIGHT ON!!!! Those three...plus MANY more. And I'm sure MORE than we don't even know about.
ROCK ON!
Hey anon--We've got plenty of awesome beaches here and I can make my own daiquiris here in the U.S.! :) Yum, yum...and my drinks WON'T be spiked with drugs either.
The sharp 67% decline in year 2009 spring break tourism in Aruba has forced KLM to cut its flights to Aruba twice a week from Holland. Aruba has created its own death sentence market conditions and is seriously damaged by ArubanBoycott movement.
The Supreme Court of the Netherlands has determined that the destruction of Aruba economically is not against Dutch law. So Arubanboucott is legal under the Dutch law.
When times get tough, The American people can do without things like the expensive Aruba vacations. Especailly when people are getting so frustrated with the rampant Aruban government corruption and coverup of Natalee Holloway's rape and murder committed by the junkie Dutchman Joran van der Sloot.
The Council of Europe has published a critical report on the human rights situation in the Netherlands. The report criticises policy on migrants and asylum seekers and the mishandling of the Natalee case in Aruba which has triggered the worldwide economic reccession since June 2005.
The Netherlands is preparing to host its biggest ever UN conference. On 31 March, representatives from scores of countries and organisations will meet in The Hague, to discuss the future of Afghanistan. The issues of Aruba, Joran and Natalee's rape and murder case may be brought up by the opposing EU parties.
Coastal Ridge Realty's expansion to Aruba was driven by property and lending expert Jaime Ligna and aims to help more people to acquire a Caribbean property on the island. Aruba was claimed by the Dutch in the early 19th Century and to this day remains part of the Dutch Caribbean colonies. More people are now seeking to acquire an additional source of revenue during the economic troubles by buying a property they can rent out to holidaymakers, or alternatively buyers may be looking for an additional home.
The Dutch Tourism officer pointed to Aruba and the highly publicized disappearance of American tourist Natalie Holloway as an example of the economic costs of crime on a tourist hot spot. Some analysts have estimated so far Aruba has lost over 3 billion dollars in tourism business up to this minute in year 2009 based on that bad PR. They don't think Aruba can recover and survive the brutal punishments.
Tourism is the mainstay of the small, closed Aruban economy. After the coverup of Natalee Holloway's rape and murder by the state sponsored Dutchman Joran van der Sloot in May 2005, the growth of the American tourism has slowed down to a halt and resulted in current bankrupted of the local Aruban government. The Dutch Hague government has made it clear they will not bail out Aruba in their final Dutch Parliamental 2009spending budget.
Your wild guess is off. AP writers don't even accept the "freebies" commonly taken by other travel writers.
I can assure you ATA did not pay me a dime.
I actually thought this was a really good travel article and am tempted to visit Aruba on my next vacation.
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