High Repeat Visitor Rate



November 3rd 2005, Aruba.


ORANJESTAD-Travel agencies are having less influence in the
destination choice of their customer. In a research conducted by the
Central Bureau for Statistics in the 2nd quarter of 2005 shows that
6.3 percent of the visitors to Aruba have chosen the island on
recommendation from their travel agency. That percentage was
15.7 percent in the 2nd quarter of 2004.

Aruba was recommended to 45 percent of all visitors in the 2nd quarter of
2005 by family and friends. That percentage is the same as in the 2nd
quarter of 2004.

Remarkable is the lasting good impression that Aruba leaves behind to
visitors that become repeat visitors. A good 30.1 percent of visitors chose
Aruba in the 2nd quarter of 2005 based on a previous vacation
experience on the island in the past. That is an increase from the
24.1 percent of the visitors that did so in the second quarter of 2004.

At least half of the visitors in the 2nd quarter of 2005 came to the island
for the first time. A good 26 percent of the visitors came to Aruba for the
second through the fifth time down from 27 percent in the 2nd quarter of
2004. A total of 23.7 percent of all visitors in the 2nd quarter of 2005 were
visiting the island for the sixth time or higher, up from 20.3 percent in the
2nd quarter of 2004.

Aruba welcomed 183 thousand stay-over visitors in the 2nd quarter of
2005 up from 178 thousand stay-over visitors in the 2nd quarter of 2004.







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