Monthly Update - Aruba’s Tourism Industry: August 2016 and Year to Date 2016
MONTHLY UPDATE - ARUBA’S TOURISM INDUSTRY
August 2016 and Year to Date 2016
Summary Highlights.
Ø The total number of stopovers visiting Aruba decreased by 13.6% in August, from 111,471 in August 2015 to 96,319 in August 2016.
Ø In the first eight months of 2016 the number of stopover visitors decreased by 2.2% from 789,875 in 2015 to 772,476 in 2016.
Ø Traffic from the USA was down by 6.2%, from 53,538 stopovers in August 2015 to 50,193 stopovers in August 2016 with declines out of 12 of the 13 largest markets. Traffic was down 4.5% from New York State and down 2.9% from New Jersey.
Ø In the first eight months of 2016 the number of stopover visitors from the USA increased by 1.2% from 434,403 in 2015 to 439,628 in 2016.
Ø Traffic from Venezuela was down by 39.9% in August from 36,728 stopovers in August 2015 to 22,056 in August 2016. In the first eight months of 2016 the number of stopover visitors from Venezuela fell by 17.4%, from 191,798 in 2015 to 158,359 in 2016.
Ø Tourism receipts fell by 1.4% in the first quarter of 2016 compared to the same quarter of 2015 despite a 5.4% growth in stopover arrivals. In the second quarter visitor arrivals declined by 3.0% whilst tourism receipts fell by 0.4% both compared to second quarter 2015.
Ø The total number of visitor nights declined by 3.4% in August, from 752,859 in August 2015 to 727,390 in August 2016. The overall average length of stay grew by 11.8% from 6.75 nights in August 2015 to 7.55 nights in August 2016.
Ø The total number of visitor nights declined by 0.1% in the first eight months of 2016, from 5,510,558 in 2015 to 5,503,612 in 2016. The overall average length of stay grew by 2.1% from 6.98 nights in 2015 to 7.12 nights in 2016.
Ø The Dominican Republic saw a 7.0% increase in stopover traffic in the first eight months of 2016 whilst the U.S. Virgin Islands saw a 2.2% increase in stopovers in the same period.
Ø Outbound travel by US citizens grew by 9.8% in the first four months of 2016 compared to the same period for 2015 and was up by 5.1% to the Caribbean.
Ø The number of cruise passengers visiting Aruba in August fell by 3.1%, from 23,282 in August 2015 to 22,557 in August 2016. In the first eight months of 2016 the number of cruise visitors increased by 16.0% from 360,234 in 2015 to 417,815 in 2016.
Ø As reported by Immigration card data the number of stopover visitors staying in hotels in August 2016 grew by 2.5%, and staying in timeshare resorts fell by 6.3%. For the fifth time in as many months the number staying in “other accommodation” fell, this time by 42.0%. This latter category comprised 21.0% of all visitors in August 2016, down from 31.3% in August 2015.
Ø The number of Venezuelan stopovers using “other accommodation” fell by 63.6% in August 2016 and comprised 40.7% of all Venezuelan visitors in August 2016 down from 67.2% in August 2015. The number of Venezuelans staying in hotel accommodation grew by 13.4% compared with August 2015.
Ø Numbers provided to AHATA show that for a sample of 15 hotels average room occupancy grew by 4.9 percentage points from 78.9% in August 2015 to 83.8% in August 2016. The average daily room rate fell by 5.5% to $192.12 and the average RevPar grew by 0.5% to $161.04.
Ø In the first eight months of 2016 average room occupancy grew by 0.6 percentage points to 80.3%. The average daily room rate fell by 5.4% to $236.73 and the average RevPar fell by 4.7% to $190.05.
Ø Performance of the hotels by category for August shows that the brand name beach front hotels saw their average room occupancies fall by 0.8 percentage points to 79.4%, with their RevPar also declining by 7.6% to $203.26. The all-inclusive resorts saw their average room occupancies increase by 6.4 percentage points to 89.6% and their RevPar grew by 14.3% to $132.48. The smaller independent beach front hotels saw a 3.5 percentage point increase in room occupancy to 93.9% but their RevPar fell by 2.2% to $234.18. The non-beach front hotels saw their average room occupancies improve by 15.6 percentage points to 79.9% and saw their RevPar grow by 13.8% to $107.95.
Ø In the first eight months of 2016 STR reported that hotels in three of the nine Caribbean destinations saw higher average room occupancies, one saw no change, and a further five saw lower average room occupancies. Six of the nine saw lower average RevPar.
Ø Laser Airlines was the number one carrier in August 2016 and brought in 13,278 non-resident visitors. JetBlue was the number two carrier (13,055 non-residents) and American brought in 12,884 non-residents.
Ø Of the 22,056 Venezuelans who visited Aruba in August 2016 4.2% (924) arrived in Aruba on a US scheduled carrier. In total 1,178 Venezuelans (5.3% of all Venezuelans) arrived in Aruba on a carrier other than one based in Venezuela or in Aruba. These are thought to be persons visiting Aruba in transit to another country and returning to Venezuela via Aruba.
Ø 4.5% of non-residents carried to Aruba by American Airlines in August 2016 were residents of Venezuela. 0.4% of non-residents carried to Aruba by Delta Air Lines in August were residents of Venezuela. For most other non-Venezuelan, non-Aruban carriers it was generally less than 6%.
Ø There was a 0.3% increase in the number of visitors 70 years old or older in August and a 25.0% decline in the number between 30 and 39 years old.
Ø In August 2016 43.7% of our visitors reported they were visiting for the first time and 40.9% reported they had visited before. 15.4% of our visitors did not report how many times they visited. Assigning the number who did not report on a pro rata basis results in an overall percentage of 52% first time and 48% repeat.
Ø Trip Advisor ratings for June 2016 show that Aruba received a total of 3,942 reviews and achieved an average rating of 4.44 out of 5. The Cayman Islands achieved an average rating of 4.52 with the USVI achieving an average rating of 4.49.
Ø The Aruba Tourism Authority has set a revised target of 5.5% more stopover visitors for 2016 compared to 2015. As well they have targeted a 6% increase in tourism receipts, to increase cruise visitor arrival numbers by a minimum of 3% above the 2013 total and to achieve a 9% per annum increase in the tourism sector’s RevPar.
Ø AHATA projects there will be about 3% more available hotel room nights in 2016 compared with 2015 and projects that average room occupancies for the hotel sector for 2016 will be similar to those for 2015, at 78%. It is further projected that the overall average daily room rate will decline by 3.0% in 2016, with RevPar projected to decline by between 2 - 3%.
Ø The Aruba Airport Authority reports there will be 1.7% more available air seats in the summer of 2016 (April 1 – October 31 2016) compared to the same seven months of 2015. The AAA is projecting 13.4% fewer inbound air seats in the winter 2015/2016 compared to the same five months of 2015/2016.
Ø Projections for cruise traffic for 2016 suggest that, based on existing schedules, the number of cruise passengers will increase by between 10% and 13% compared with 2015.
Visitor Arrivals – August 2016
Aruba: Total Visitors August 20162016 / % / 2015 / % / % change
USA / 50,193 / 52.1% / 53,538 / 48.0% / -6.2%
Canada / 2,313 / 2.4% / 2,773 / 2.5% / -16.6%
Venezuela / 22,056 / 22.9% / 36,728 / 32.9% / -39.9%
Brazil / 859 / 0.9% / 1,173 / 1.1% / -26.8%
Colombia / 2,491 / 2.6% / 1,519 / 1.4% / 64.0%
Argentina / 1,571 / 1.6% / 1,524 / 1.4% / 3.1%
Chile / 794 / 0.8% / 871 / 0.8% / -8.8%
Netherlands / 3,088 / 3.2% / 2,816 / 2.5% / 9.7%
Germany / 460 / 0.5% / 610 / 0.5% / -24.6%
Italy / 1,995 / 2.1% / 2,158 / 1.9% / -7.6%
UK / 3,075 / 3.2% / 1,638 / 1.5% / 87.7%
Sweden / 105 / 0.1% / 61 / 0.1% / 72.1%
Other / 7,319 / 7.6% / 6,062 / 5.4% / 20.7%
Total / 96,319 / 100.0% / 111,471 / 100.0% / -13.6%
Source: ATA
Total stopover arrivals (persons staying 24 hours or more) for August 2016 showed a 13.6% decrease compared with August 2015.
Traffic from the USA was down by 6.2%, was down by 16.6% from Canada, down 39.9% from Venezuela, up 64.0% from Colombia, down 26.8% from Brazil and up 3.1% from Argentina. Arrivals were up 9.7% from The Netherlands.
Aruba: Total Visitors August 2016 YTD2016 / % / 2015 / % / % change
USA / 439,628 / 56.9% / 434,403 / 55.0% / 1.2%
Canada / 28,326 / 3.7% / 30,399 / 3.8% / -6.8%
Venezuela / 158,359 / 20.5% / 191,798 / 24.3% / -17.4%
Brazil / 8,074 / 1.0% / 14,028 / 1.8% / -42.4%
Colombia / 18,213 / 2.4% / 13,113 / 1.7% / 38.9%
Argentina / 12,891 / 1.7% / 9,462 / 1.2% / 36.2%
Chile / 7,707 / 1.0% / 6,980 / 0.9% / 10.4%
Netherlands / 23,542 / 3.0% / 23,560 / 3.0% / -0.1%
Germany / 2,703 / 0.3% / 3,147 / 0.4% / -14.1%
Italy / 4,790 / 0.6% / 4,879 / 0.6% / -1.8%
UK / 12,496 / 1.6% / 7,661 / 1.0% / 63.1%
Sweden / 3,285 / 0.4% / 3,048 / 0.4% / 7.8%
Other / 52,462 / 6.8% / 47,397 / 6.0% / 10.7%
Total / 772,476 / 100.0% / 789,875 / 100.0% / -2.2%
Source: ATA
Total Stopover Arrivals by Month 2016
2016 / 2015 / % changeJan / 104,072 / 100,914 / 3.1%
Feb / 96,185 / 89,991 / 6.9%
Mar / 109,998 / 103,506 / 6.3%
Apr / 98,823 / 99,604 / -0.8%
May / 80,964 / 87,691 / -7.7%
Jun / 86,697 / 87,447 / -0.9%
Jul / 99,418 / 109,251 / -9.0%
Aug / 96,319 / 111,471 / -13.6%
YTD / 772,476 / 789,875 / -2.2%
Source: ATA
Expenditures
Tourism Receipts(In Millions of AFL)
YEAR / 1st / 2nd / 3rd / 4th / TOTAL
2010 / 644.5 / 519.8 / 502.5 / 566.2 / 2,233.0
2011 / 690.4 / 582.1 / 555.4 / 583.4 / 2,411.3
2012 / 728.7 / 581.2 / 576.5 / 615.1 / 2,501.5
2013 / 774.9 / 621.4 / 600.6 / 680.4 / 2,666.0
2014 / 806.6 / 652.3 / 678.8 / 723.4 / 2,861.1
2015 / 864.4 / 672.0 / 685.4 / 718.7 / 2,940.5
2016 / 852.3 / 669.0
Source: Central Bank of Aruba
Tourism Receipts
(Millions of AFL)
Quarter / 2016 / 2015 / change
1st / 852.3 / 864.4 / -1.4%
2nd / 669.0 / 672.0 / -0.4%
3rd / 685.4
4th / 718.7
YTD / 2,940.5
Source: Central Bank of Aruba
Whilst stopover visitor arrivals were up 5.4% in the first three months of 2016 tourism receipts fell by 1.4% in that quarter compared to first quarter 2015.
In the second quarter visitor arrivals declined by 3.0% whilst tourism receipts fell by 0.4% both compared to second quarter 2015.
Top Producing US States.
Aruba: Total Visitors: US States: August 20162016 / % / 2015 / % / % change
New York / 14,212 / 23.2% / 14,886 / 24.7% / -4.5%
Massachusetts / 4,211 / 6.9% / 4,410 / 7.3% / -4.5%
New Jersey / 8,847 / 14.4% / 9,112 / 15.1% / -2.9%
Pennsylvania / 2,560 / 4.2% / 2,973 / 4.9% / -13.9%
Illinois / 1,149 / 1.9% / 1,519 / 2.5% / -24.4%
Florida / 2,845 / 4.6% / 3,012 / 5.0% / -5.5%
Connecticut / 1,534 / 2.5% / 1,682 / 2.8% / -8.8%
Maryland / 1,767 / 2.9% / 2,071 / 3.4% / -14.7%
Ohio / 917 / 1.5% / 947 / 1.6% / -3.2%
Michigan / 650 / 1.1% / 676 / 1.1% / -3.8%
Virginia / 1,283 / 2.1% / 1,582 / 2.6% / -18.9%
Texas / 2,199 / 3.6% / 2,123 / 3.5% / 3.6%
California / 1,451 / 2.4% / 1,613 / 2.7% / -10.0%
Other / 6,568 / 10.7% / 6,932 / 11.5% / -5.3%
Total / 50,193 / 81.8% / 53,538 / 88.7% / -6.2%
Source: ATA
Aruba: Total Visitors: US States: August 2016 YTD
2016 / % / 2015 / % / % change
New York / 92,070 / 20.9% / 87,770 / 20.2% / 4.9%
Massachusetts / 48,890 / 11.1% / 48,266 / 11.1% / 1.3%
New Jersey / 56,530 / 12.9% / 54,042 / 12.4% / 4.6%
Pennsylvania / 25,963 / 5.9% / 25,437 / 5.9% / 2.1%
Illinois / 13,981 / 3.2% / 16,126 / 3.7% / -13.3%
Florida / 22,692 / 5.2% / 22,378 / 5.2% / 1.4%
Connecticut / 16,275 / 3.7% / 16,113 / 3.7% / 1.0%
Maryland / 16,382 / 3.7% / 16,045 / 3.7% / 2.1%
Ohio / 12,585 / 2.9% / 12,347 / 2.8% / 1.9%
Michigan / 9,741 / 2.2% / 9,708 / 2.2% / 0.3%
Virginia / 11,618 / 2.6% / 11,694 / 2.7% / -0.6%
Texas / 16,335 / 3.7% / 16,740 / 3.9% / -2.4%
California / 10,272 / 2.3% / 10,736 / 2.5% / -4.3%
Other / 86,294 / 19.6% / 87,001 / 20.0% / -0.8%
Total / 439,628 / 100.0% / 434,403 / 100.0% / 1.2%
Source: ATA
Stopover Visitors by Number of Nights Stayed.
Aruba: Total Nights August 20162016 / % / 2015 / % / % change
USA / 332,968 / 45.8% / 359,897 / 47.8% / -7.5%
Canada / 18,953 / 2.6% / 22,560 / 3.0% / -16.0%
Venezuela / 175,056 / 24.1% / 213,387 / 28.3% / -18.0%
Brazil / 5,896 / 0.8% / 7,434 / 1.0% / -20.7%
Colombia / 21,412 / 2.9% / 11,171 / 1.5% / 91.7%
Argentina / 13,516 / 1.9% / 12,777 / 1.7% / 5.8%
Chile / 5,922 / 0.8% / 6,510 / 0.9% / -9.0%
Netherlands / 36,578 / 5.0% / 32,601 / 4.3% / 12.2%
Germany / 4,226 / 0.6% / 5,929 / 0.8% / -28.7%
Italy / 14,874 / 2.0% / 16,953 / 2.3% / -12.3%
UK / 37,689 / 5.2% / 19,453 / 2.6% / 93.7%
Sweden / 978 / 0.1% / 610 / 0.1% / 60.3%
Other / 59,322 / 8.2% / 43,577 / 5.8% / 36.1%
Total / 727,390 / 100.0% / 752,859 / 100.0% / -3.4%
Source: ATA
Aruba: Average Length of Stay in Nights: August 2016
2016 / 2015 / % change
USA / 6.63 / 6.72 / -1.3%
Canada / 8.19 / 8.14 / 0.7%
Venezuela / 7.94 / 5.81 / 36.6%
Brazil / 6.86 / 6.34 / 8.3%
Colombia / 8.60 / 7.35 / 16.9%
Argentina / 8.60 / 8.38 / 2.6%
Chile / 7.46 / 7.47 / -0.2%
Netherlands / 11.85 / 11.58 / 2.3%
Germany / 9.19 / 9.72 / -5.5%
Italy / 7.46 / 7.86 / -5.1%
UK / 12.26 / 11.88 / 3.2%
Sweden / 9.31 / 10.00 / -6.9%
Other / 8.11 / 7.19 / 12.8%
Total / 7.55 / 6.75 / 11.8%
Source: ATA
Aruba: Total Nights August 2016 YTD
2016 / % / 2015 / % / % change
USA / 3,085,269 / 56.1% / 3,073,004 / 55.8% / 0.4%
Canada / 245,965 / 4.5% / 259,786 / 4.7% / -5.3%
Venezuela / 818,786 / 14.9% / 1,027,694 / 18.6% / -20.3%
Brazil / 62,450 / 1.1% / 84,215 / 1.5% / -25.8%
Colombia / 165,435 / 3.0% / 109,157 / 2.0% / 51.6%
Argentina / 114,576 / 2.1% / 85,841 / 1.6% / 33.5%
Chile / 59,537 / 1.1% / 52,906 / 1.0% / 12.5%
Netherlands / 297,964 / 5.4% / 302,796 / 5.5% / -1.6%
Germany / 26,279 / 0.5% / 29,510 / 0.5% / -10.9%
Italy / 36,411 / 0.7% / 38,295 / 0.7% / -4.9%
UK / 147,317 / 2.7% / 89,308 / 1.6% / 65.0%
Sweden / 40,182 / 0.7% / 36,155 / 0.7% / 11.1%
Other / 403,441 / 7.3% / 321,891 / 5.8% / 25.3%
Total / 5,503,612 / 100.0% / 5,510,558 / 100.0% / -0.1%
Source: ATA
Aruba: Average Length of Stay in Nights: August 2016 YTD
2016 / 2015 / % change
USA / 7.02 / 7.07 / -0.8%
Canada / 8.68 / 8.55 / 1.6%
Venezuela / 5.17 / 5.36 / -3.5%
Brazil / 7.44 / 6.71 / 10.9%
Colombia / 9.25 / 7.48 / 23.5%
Argentina / 8.89 / 9.07 / -2.0%
Chile / 7.73 / 7.58 / 1.9%
Netherlands / 12.66 / 12.85 / -1.5%
Germany / 9.72 / 9.38 / 3.7%
Italy / 7.60 / 7.85 / -3.2%
UK / 11.79 / 11.66 / 1.1%
Sweden / 12.23 / 11.86 / 3.1%
Other / 7.69 / 6.79 / 13.2%
Total / 7.12 / 6.98 / 2.1%
Source: ATA
Competing Destination performance.