Loke ta drenta, loke ta sali
Un pareha ta sinta den un restaurant band'i lama riba un dushi mainta na Aruba. Nan ta ordo fruta fresco, dos plato di desayuno y koffie, ta disfruta di e vista y e ambiente, y ora nan ta cla pa bay, nan ta pidi e cuenta: 100 florin. Pa nan, e ta simplemente desayuno, un cuminda cu kisas nan lo corda, kisas lubida despues cu nan bay bek cas. Pa Aruba, e mesun desayuno ey ta conta un storia mucho mas amplio.
Kico ta pasa cu e 100 florin ey despues cu e cuenta wordo cobra? Cuanto ta keda aki, sosteniendo negoshinan local, trahadonan y nos comunidad, y cuanto ta bandona e isla keto keto? Nos tawata kier sa. Pues, nos a sigui e 100 florin y saca nos som.
Pa sigui e ehempel di e desayuno: mas tanto di e frutanan a wordo importa, y kisas e koffie tambe. E manteca a crusa lama grandi, y hasta e pan, horna aki awe mainta, a cuminsa como hariña importa. Parti di e cuenta a bandona Aruba prome cu e pareha a caba di come. Economistanan ta yama esaki lekmento: placa cu ta sali for di un economia local en bes di sigui circula den dje. Niun hende ta haciendo algo robes; e placa simplemente ta bay caminda e sistema mand'e, y e sistema ey a wordo lanta hopi tempo pasa. Pero pa ora e 100 florinnan ey a caba di pasa den e sistema, mas o menos 41 a bandona Aruba, y mas o menos 14 eventualmente ta yega nos caha publico pa medio di belasting y tarifanan.
Esey, sinembargo, ta solamente un banda di e medaya, y un tarifa cu hopi hende ta puntra nos di dje ta punta riba e otro. Cada bishitante cu yega cu avion, ta paga binti dollar pa e carchi di ED cu ta obligatorio. Multiplica esey cu mas cu un miyon bishitante pa aña, e ta un cantidad serio, y e ta existi pa un motibo simpel: pa hospeda bishitantenan ta costa placa. Pa sirbi un simpel desayuno na bishitantenan ta depende di tur loke Aruba ta provee tur dia: awa limpi, coriente confiabel, camindanan sigur, un aeropuerto, un sistema di riolering, siguridad publico, pa e hendenan cu ta biba aki y e miyones cu ta bishita. Pa provee tur esaki ta costa nos gobierno alrededor di 17 di cada 100 florin cu un bishitante gasta, mientras cu caha di gobierno ta keda cu mas o menos 14. Pone esun contra e otro, y Aruba ta keda atrasa cu mas o menos 3 florin riba cada 100 florin cu un bishitante gasta. Awendia ta papia di atrae turista cu tin mas capacidad pa gasta. Sinembargo, si nos no cambia e structura, e no lo haci un gran diferencia den nos entrada nacional door di e lekmento.
Sigui e florin
Un desayuno · 100 florin · tres destino
Pa compronde pakico tanto di e balor ey ta bandona Aruba awe, nos mester bay bek cuarenta aña. Ora e refineria a cera na 1985, nos a confronta un crisis: tawatin mester di inversionistanan rapidamente, mester a construi hotelnan, mester a crea cuponan di trabou. Nos lidernan a ofrece terminonan generoso cu a duna negoshinan e confiansa pa construi aki, y el a funciona. Generacionnan di Arubianonan a beneficia pa motibo di esaki. Mirando bek, algun di e acuerdonan ey por a wordo skirbi diferente, pero esey ta facil pa bisa cu e beneficio di retrospectiva. Ora sobrevivencia ta e prioridad, lidernan ta tuma e miho decisionnan cu nan por. E reto ta cu, decisionnan tuma durante un crisis, hopi biaha ta keda hopi largo despues cu e crisis a pasa, y hopi di e reglanan cu a reconstrui Aruba den añanan 80, ainda ta forma con placa ta move den nos economia awendia.
Esaki no ta un argumento contra turismo. Esey ta keda nos entrada, y e lo sigui hunga un rol esencial den futuro di Aruba. Esaki ta un combersacion tocante con nos ta construi riba e exito ey. Un economia turistico fuerte ta wordo midi no solamente pa medio di yegadanan (di turista), pero cuanto di cada florin ta keda Aruba. Kico lo pasa si nos simplemente keda cu mas di e balor cu ta wordo crea caba? Imagina esaki cu di cada 100 florin, no 41, sino por ehempel 30 bandona e isla. Esey por sosode si mas di nos cuminda wordo cultiva localmente, si mas Arubianonan ta doñonan di e negoshinan cu ta sirbi e industria di turismo, y si empresarionan lo tawatin mas acceso na capital. Cu e mesun hotelnan, e mesun bishitantenan y e mesun beachnan, Aruba lo a mantene mas di e balor cu ya ta flui caba den nos economia: mas recurso pa careteranan, vivienda, servicionan publico y e siguiente generacion.
Imagina esaki...
Awendia
ta bandona Aruba pa cada 100 gasta
Cu cambio
ta bandona Aruba pa cada 100 gasta
Nos no lo mester traha mas duro. Nos lo simplemente keda cu mas di loke nos ta gana caba.
Aruba a demostra caba cu e por yama henter mundo bon bini. E siguiente capitulo ta pa sigura con pa keda cu mas di e balor cu tur bishitante ta trece cune. Durante e proximo simannan, nos lo explora con e patronchi aki a forma nos economia pa generacionnan, y mas importante, kico nos por haci pa cambie hunto. Te e ora ey, nos ta lagabo cu un pregunta: kico ta mas importante pa e futuro di Aruba; yama mas turista bon bini, of crea mas balor pa nos comunidad for di e turistanan cu nos ta yama bon bini caba? Duna bo contesta y manda nos un email na info@hopearuba.org, of join e combersacion na www.hopearuba.org. Nos ta lesa tur contesta, pasobra e futuro di Aruba no lo wordo forma door di un solo bos, pero door di nos tur.
Tras di e Numbernan
E cifranan den e boletin aki a wordo saca for di e Banco Central di e datonan di turismo di Aruba (2024), reportahe di gobierno y IMF cu ta disponibel pa publico di Aruba, investigacion internacional tocante lekmento di turismo, y nos propio analisis cu ta trece e fuentenan aki hunto. Nos meta no ta pa gana un discusion; e ta pa haci asuntonan compleho mas facil pa compronde, pa asina Aruba por tin combersacionnan informa tocante su futuro. Den un edicion den futuro, nos lo mustra exactamente con nos a yega na e cifranan aki, y nos ta yama bon bini na bo preguntanan y perspectivanan.
Bread and Butter
A couple settles into a beachside restaurant on a beautiful Aruban morning. They order fresh fruit, two breakfast plates and coffee, linger over the view, and when they are ready to leave, they ask for the bill: 100 florins. For them, it is simply breakfast, a meal they might or might not remember after they have returned home. For Aruba, that same breakfast tells a much bigger story.
What happens to those 100 florins after the server collects the check? How much stays here, supporting local businesses, workers and our community, and how much quietly leaves the island? We wanted to know. So we followed the 100 florins.
Some of the fruit on the table was imported, and so, perhaps, was the coffee. The butter crossed an ocean, and even the bread, baked here this morning, began as imported flour; part of the bill has left Aruba before the table is cleared. Economists call this leakage: money that leaves a local economy instead of continuing to circulate within it. No one is doing anything wrong; the money simply goes where the system sends it, and that system was set up a long time ago. But by the time those 100 florins have made their way through the system, about 41 have left Aruba, and about 14 eventually reach our public treasury through taxes and fees.
That, however, is only one side of the equation, and a fee many people ask us about points to the other. Every visitor arriving by air pays twenty dollars with the mandatory ED card; multiplied by more than a million visitors a year, it is a serious amount, and it exists for a simple reason: hosting guests costs money. Serving breakfast to visitors depends on everything Aruba provides every day: clean water, reliable electricity, safe roads, an airport, a sewage system, public safety, for the people who live here and the millions who visit. Providing all of this costs our government about 17 of every 100 florins a visitor spends, while the treasury keeps about 14. Set one against the other, and Aruba ends about 3 florins behind on every 100 a visitor spends. Today, much is being said about attracting higher-spending tourists. But unless we change the underlying structure of our economy, it will make little difference to our national income because of economic leakage.
Follow the florin
One breakfast · 100 florin · three destinations
To understand why so much of that value leaves Aruba today, we have to go back forty years. When the refinery closed in 1985, we faced a crisis: investors were needed quickly, hotels had to be built, jobs had to be created. Our leaders offered generous terms that gave businesses the confidence to build here, and it worked; generations of Arubans have benefited because of it. Looking back, some of those agreements might have been written differently, but that is easy to say with the benefit of hindsight; when survival is the priority, leaders make the best decisions they can. The challenge is that decisions made during a crisis often remain long after the crisis has passed, and many of the rules that rebuilt Aruba in the 1980s still shape how money moves through our economy today.
This is not an argument against tourism; it remains our bread and butter, and it will continue to play an essential role in Aruba's future. This is a conversation about how we build on that success. A strong tourism economy is measured not only by arrivals, but by how much of every florin stays in Aruba. What if we simply kept more of the value that is already being created? Imagine that of every 100 florins, not 41 but 30 left the island. That could happen if more of our food were grown locally, more Arubans owned the businesses that serve the tourism industry, and entrepreneurs had greater access to capital. With the same hotels, the same visitors and the same beaches, Aruba would keep more of the value already flowing through our economy: more resources for roads, housing, public services and the next generation.
Imagine this...
Today
leave Aruba per 100 spent
With change
leave Aruba per 100 spent
We would not need to work harder. We would simply keep more of what we already earn.
Aruba has already shown it can welcome the world. The next chapter is ensuring how to keep more of the value that world brings with it. Over the next few weeks, we will explore how this pattern has shaped our economy for generations and, more importantly, what we can do to change it together. Until then, we leave you with one question: what matters more for Aruba's future, welcoming more tourists, or creating more value for our community from the tourists we already welcome? Reply to this newsletter, email us at info@hopearuba.org, or join the conversation at www.hopearuba.org. We read every response, because Aruba's future will not be shaped by one voice, but by all of us.
Behind the Numbers
The figures in this newsletter are drawn from the Central Bank of Aruba's tourism data (2024), publicly available government and IMF reporting on Aruba, international research on tourism leakage, and our own analysis that brings these sources together. Our goal is not to win an argument; it is to make complex issues easier to understand, so Aruba can have informed conversations about its future. In a future edition, we will show exactly how we arrived at these numbers, and we welcome your questions and perspectives.