The new 600 room All Inclusive, known as Secrets Baby Beach Resort, held a ground-breaking ceremony on November 14th. At the time it was reported that construction is ready to begin, and conclude by 2021. The festivities were well-attended by GOA’s ministers, dignitaries, and the joyous San Nicolas Business Association, pleased to see business heading into town. Then they threw a party at Carnival Village, where several of the town’s bands performed.
I asked a few upright citizens to comment:
MAVEN ONE: You asked me for my opinion on the Secrets project at Seroe Colorado, so here it is with pleasure:
The resort will have a substantially positive impact on the economic and social situation of San Nicolas.
The closings of the refinery ravaged the town that was once flourishing, and the industry that once fed the island’s economy.
San Nicolas raised some of our most outstanding hotel employees, since the beginning of the hotel industry here. I remember hearing the late Ike Cohen praise his employees from San Nicolas for being extra hospitable AND fluent in English. They bring a warmth and personality to the job.
Secrets will invigorate San Nicolas and reward it hospitable population with steady jobs. They have been preparing for that from day one of the Tourist Industry here.
The social spin off effect will be staggering and felt everywhere, providing Aruba with another tourist attraction to compete with our neighboring Caribbean tourist products.
About environmental issues: There is not one project, not even a residence, that can be built WITHOUT in one way or the other, impacting the environment.
Progressive societies try to mitigate the impact, with rules and regulations as well as environmental protection laws.
In Secrets’ case, GOA has provided for this in many different ways.
Lastly, Secrets will require infrastructure, which will provide work for our construction industry, for the two upcoming years
MAVEN TWO: The resort is St Nicholas will severely cripple our hotels on Palm Beach, we have fantastic workers who live in San Nicholas, and all high rise hotels will have to look for new people, and go through WORK-PERMIT HELL.
GOA is talking through both end of its mouth. Encouraging development but cracking down on foreign permits, to the umpteen degree.
MAVEN THREE: This is the wrong ‘type’ of hotel for the island, and the area. The large, All Inclusive invasive, over-bearing properties, are so yesterday. We all agree on development, on a small, exclusive scale. And the arrival of a large behemoth is against the will of the people, and against prudent advice regarding over-development.
MAVEN FOUR: It’s the death sentence for Seroe Colorado Bay Key Islands, according to Birdlife International, IUCN. Additionally, according to a Standard Oil report from 1928, when the Americans surveyed the area of Seroe Colorado, as they were building the school, hospital and the bungalows, the area of Baby Beach is not suitable for over-building because of the danger of sink holes. And as far as the maintenance of any such large scale project goes, in this wind-swept, salt-laced environment, it is a nightmare.
MAVEN FIVE: Secrets? We should have NO secrets, what a terrible name in the age of transparency.
