When hotelier Hendrick Santos, the general manager of the Hyatt Regency, concluded his presidency of the Aruba Hotel & Tourism Association in 1999, board members felt it would be wise to ask an Aruban businessman, Eduardo de Veer, to take over the leadership of the organization.
It was a vulnerable time, and the hoteliers knew de Veer would be best equipped to subtly pressure the government into funding the Aruba Tourism Authority so that Aruba’s promotional wheels could continue to turn. It was a positive strategic move. As a result of de Veer’s direct involvement with AHATA as its elected President, ten million florins were immediately made available. The funds were then applied to Advertising & Promotions via ATA and the demand for Aruba in the US market was stimulated. The island emerged from a tourism slump; business was on an upturn just before the Millennium celebrations.
As AHATA’s president De Veer was also empowered to bring La Cabana All Suite Beach Resort back into the fold. At the time, some timeshare resorts seceded from the organization because of internal conflict and their absence was felt. Thanks to de Veer’s special brand of diplomacy, La Cabana rejoined and AHATA was again, united, representing all of Aruba’s hotels.
On the level of macro economics de Veer brought fresh thinking into the industry. "Aruba at the time enjoyed high occupancies," he says, "yet reaped minimal or negative margins, because of the very high cost of business. We were not making money; we looked at occupancy figures and were pleased to see they were high. We did not look at the rev par," he adds.
Under de Veer’s leadership AHATA changed the way business was viewed. "In a mature industry like ours," de Veer explains,"the focus must remain on high rates, not just on high occupancies. Selling rooms cheaply to charter guests and paying for the wear and tear at the resorts produces negative results. The ADR, the average daily rate must remain high, in order to make economic sense," he states.
Following de Veer’s insistence Aruba also started courting various airlines," as many as possible. No, as an island you can never have too many air seats," de Veer declares. And while there was some opposition to his pursuit of scheduled air – the charter companies were unhappy – rev par development statistics here show his vision was correct. As more money was invested in Advertising & Promotions and more air seats became available, the demand was stimulated and the rates went up, finally making the hotels some money in the process.
On the internal level, de Veer introduced structural changes to AHATA. His tenure as AHATA’s president marked a quantum leap and a breakthrough in the way the association handled its affairs. He saw the importance of change and was instrumental in shifting the association’s operational focus away from the board and into professional management. As a result of this shift Horace Hord was hired and he helped AHATA become a force to be reckoned, relative to tourism policy and strategies.
"AHATA deserves our respect and admiration," de Veer states. "As a Caribbean tourist destination, AHATA and the hotels spend the most on Advertising & Promotions, and the island’s government spends the least, in comparison to other destinations. AHATA works hard on behalf of Aruba," he affirms.
Reports Jorge Pesquera: "Eduardo de Veer’s contributions to AHATA, our tourism industry and Aruba in general deserve a special place in the country’s history books. His drive, business acumen and vision have made MetaCorp a "best in class" corporation in Aruba as shown by independent surveys and reaffirmed by internal polling of their staff in all subsidiary companies. His vision for the development of a downtown hotel complex with an idyllic island accessed via ferry service, the subsequent re-positioning of the former Sonesta Hotel now Renaissance and the development of major attractions, a convention facility, movie theaters and retail have added an entirely new aura to the city of Oranjestad."
"As far as AHATA is concerned" Pesquera continues, "as the AHATA president, De Veer made bold and difficult decisions; took the blows and considerable "heat" and provided the platform for significant change and progress. We certainly would not be where we are today, as an association, as a travel destination and as a country, had he not taken a leadership role – and for that we are immensely and forever thankful," Pesquera concludes.
File Photo from November 2000.
Eduardo de Veer on behalf of AHATA welcomes Aruba's 999.999th visitor, Mr. and Mrs. Hanson, who arrived here on board a cruise ship. As AHATA's president he also warmly addressed the one millionth visitor, Mr. & Mrs. Gugig, who landed on the island for a family reunion, flying American Airlines. De Veer made the presentation of gifts to the couples in the name of the local hotels and the airlines and commended the cruise ship authority for the significant growth it experienced from 290.000 passengers to a projected 690.000, by 2002. The one millionth tourist arrival was celebrated with a reception at City Hall.
