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Aruba’s minister of tourism, Otmar Oduber, resigned from his post on Nov. 3, according to Oduber’s Facebook and Twitter accounts.
Neither the Aruba Tourism Authority nor the Ministry of Tourism issued formal statements in response to his resignation, which was immediately effective.
Oduber recently made waves as the architect of the controversial law Aruba passed in August restricting the number of all-inclusive hotel rooms on the island to no more than 40% of the room total, and an annual 20% cap on all-inclusive room nights sold by European Plan (EP) hotels, i.e. properties that do not generally include food and beverages in the room rates.
The law put the Aruban government at odds with Aruba’s hotel trade group as well as the Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association, which opposed the law.
Travel industry insiders in Aruba said in off-the-record comments that Oduber cited an inability to garner the support of other government officials for his programs as one of the reasons he resigned, and indicated that he might create his own political party.
In a social media video, Oduber said that after 17 years of support for the Aruban People’s Party, he felt that the party had strayed from what it once stood for.
Sourse: travelweekly.com
