2015 was a very good year for Aruba as a MICE destination. Anyone who has been here already knows what One Happy Island has going for it: Perfect weather, lots of activity options, friendly people, and so on. As it turns out, the island can now claim one more title – most decorated Caribbean MICE destination. One Happy Island has received literally dozens of awards in 2015 alone. This is good news to an island whose GDP is more reliant on tourism than any other country in the world, given our small size.

Aruba Wins Many Awards in 2015

Here’s a sampling of 2015 awards:

• Platinum Adrian Award for travel marketing excellence from the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) for its One Happy Selfie social media campaign, selected as just one of six platinum awards in advertising from more than 300 entries.
• Silver Award for Aruba’s Happiness Builder, a virtual planning experience available at Aruba.com.
• 1 of 35 Caribbean islands for overall destination marketing index 2015 according to Caribbean & Co., an expert source on Caribbean lifestyle and luxury brands.
• The Aruba Tourism Authority was ranked Best Tourism Board Overall in the Travvy Awards, selected by nearly 40,000 travel agent voters.
• Magellan Award for Aruba’s sustainability initiatives.
• Silver ranking from The World Responsible Tourism Awards.
• First place: Destination Leadership in Green Energy at the National Geographic Travel World Legacy Awards at ITB Berlin, out of 150 entries from 56 countries.
• Ranked as #3 Caribbean destination for shopping by USA Today Readers’ Choice votes.

2016 is shaping up to be another great year for One Happy Island. How do we continue to be a top MICE destination? There’s more to it than just all the great things listed above and the hard work Aruba does to market itself.

Why is Aruba the Most Decorated Caribbean Destination?

One thing that helps a lot is proximity to the United States. From Miami a flight to Aruba is less than 3 hours (when the US “springs forward” an hour for daylight savings time, the east coast of the US and Aruba have not time difference. After “falling back” to standard time, Aruba is an hour ahead of the eastern seaboard), When flying non-stop, it’s about 4-4.5 hours from Philadelphia and New York City, and about five hours from Boston. The point is that because the US is a major player in the MICE travel industry, this is a real advantage.

When a company is figuring out what its MICE destination is going to be, it’s important to select a destination that is sufficiently different from the home turf, and Aruba has that in spades given that there’s really not many tropical paradise locations inside the US. The reason this is important is because it means that a company’s MICE travelers are going to have a truly unforgettable experience – one they will not only never forget, but will treasure for years to come.

Interested in finding out more about partnering with ECO DMS for your company’s MICE travel needs? Contact us now for a free quote!