The Aruban guide hired to search for Natalee Holloway in 2005 has said the island has yet to recover financially from the girl's disappearance, citing a tourism decrease in the wake of the high-profile case.
Making the revelation in a telephone interview, Alberto Groeneveldt described the dire state of the island, saying businesses such as his own only recently 'picked up a little bit' almost 18 years later.
Even still, the Aruban event planner said commerce on the Caribbean Isle, 'it's not like before' - claiming its association with the infamous cold case has caused clubs to shutter and cruise lines to remove Aruba from their itinerary.
The resulting drop in tourism, Groeneveldt said, has left the island's economy in shambles - days after it was announced the killer thought to be responsible for Natalee's vanishing would be extradited to the US.
The executive order allowing the extradition of Dutch citizen Joran van der Sloot marked the latest twist in the nearly 20-year-old mystery, during which the Alabama teen's parents reached out to Groeneveldt to aid in their search.
The Aruban guide hired to search for Natalee Holloway in 2005 has said the island has yet to recover financially from the girl's disappearance.
Aruba police are seen arresting suspect Joran van der Sloot in July 2005, before releasing him due to lack of evidence
Natalee, 18 (left), was on a graduation trip to Aruba in May 2005 when she went missing.
Her mother met Natelee's alleged killer Joran van der Sloot (right) as she was searching the island with the aforementioned guide
The resulting drop in tourism has left the island's economy in shambles - days after it was announced the killer thought to be responsible would be extradited to the US
Their effort, however, turned up little - despite it taking place days after Natalee, who is from Alabama, was last seen during a high school graduation trip on May 30, 2005.
Several similar searches have since spawned the same result - building up a dubious reputation for the idyllic Caribbean paradise in the process.
Speaking to Fox News Saturday, Groeneveldt shined a light on this phenomenon, which he said has persisted since his and others' failure to find the girl - and give her parents Beth and Dave closure,
'It has had a long-term impact on the island,' Groeneveldt explained, citing what he said were a decrease in clubs in the area, in addition to a drop in cruises that make stops at the island nation.
The event planner's assertion is supported by the data from the World Tourism Organization, WBC247고객센터 which lays bare how the number of tourists who visit the island annually dropped in 2005, from 1.3 million to 1.2million today.
The country would not experience an increase in visitors for four years, until 2008, after which the number of annual visitors fluctuated between 1.3million and 1.4million for nearly a decade.
Up until that point, the country had been enjoying an upward trend that looked to be on the mend from 2013 to 2019 - until the COVID-19 pandemic hit and threw a hurdle into the globe's travel industry.
Tourism, according to the U.S
>State Department, is the mainstay of Aruba's economy - and while it currently accounts for 2 million tourists per year, Groeneveldt said the island is still not the same.
Natalee is pictured with her mother Beth shortly before her disappearance in 2005
>She rushed to Aruba in the days after her daughter's disappearance, but failed to garner any leads. The tourist destination has suffered in the time since, with business closures and less cruises
The effort, however, turned up little - despite it taking place days after Natalee, who is from Alabama, was last seen during a high school graduation trip on May 30, 2005
>Natalee is seen in casino security footage at a table with van der Sloot shortly before her disappearance
In an ABC documentary on her daughter's disappearance, Beth Holloway returned to Aruba 15 years later - where the effects of the high-profile crime can still be seen, the guide said
Natalee Holloway's mother, Beth (pictured), is revisiting Aruba 15 years after her daughter disappeared in a 20/20 special