CaribMedia is here for you

As we announced last week, our team started working remotely and as with many other companies, we did this in an atmosphere of uncertainty. The reality is none of us know how long this situation is going to last. We have been meeting each other digitally and our first priority was to discuss some ideas as to how the community needs to pull together now more than ever, and we as a business need to help out where possible. Here’s some of what we’re doing.

We are stepping up our support commitment

We have always been a service-oriented company, and for as long as we are able, that will not change, despite the operational challenges that exist and that are affecting us too. What may change is how we do things and what we focus on for the weeks and months to come. We noticed that of last week, the threats to websites have increased (due to bad actors wanting to take advantage of the situation), and we are being more vigilant in that regard to take steps to mitigate these threats. We also call on our clients to be ever more wary of ransomware emails that are making the rounds and that are expected to increase. Please don’t hesitate to ask us if in doubt about certain emails that come in, we are here to help you and advise you. If you are not using anti-ransomware tools, we can suggest some low-cost or free anti-ransomware options that would help. Furthermore if you need to post any specific notices on your websites about how your business has been affected by COVID-19 and what changes your own clients may expect in your operations, please let us know and we will do our best to place these notices as soon as possible on your websites.

We are ready to assist you to adapt your web presence as necessary

With many businesses’ physical operations needing to adapt to the new reality caused by social distancing and the general downturn in business, companies may need to shift to do more business online, and if your website is not already doing that, we can help you make that happen. We understand that companies do not have a lot of money to throw at these things right now and we will be as flexible as possible in that regard as well. Changes to your website may not need to be drastic or huge, in some cases some small changes may be enough, contact us for help and we will see what can be done. Perhaps you may just need advice on a direction to take, and we are happy to provide that also.

We are continuing your website projects

We are in the middle of development of several website projects for our clients. These will continue, unless we are specifically told to put them on hold or it is abundantly clear to us that they cannot proceed. We know that once this is over these will need to be online, so we’re not wasting any time to get them done.

We are working very hard to keep VisitAruba going

We know that many companies in Aruba who service the tourism industry have been hit particularly hard, and the reality is that this has a ripple effect on most businesses in Aruba, including us! For many of these businesses, VisitAruba has been a valuable business channel combined with our social media reach. Keeping VisitAruba.com and our Facebook and Instagram channels such up to date is a full time job for several people in our team, it takes a significant, coordinated effort and many, many hours of work week after week. We are also in constant contact with visitors who reach out to us on a daily basis for information and advice regarding their trip to Aruba.

Clearly tourism has dropped to zero now, but it WILL pick up again. We are here for our clients to do what we can to keep things going. We are still getting several requests from tourists who are planning future trips right now, asking us about summer and autumn trips, about coming for Carnival in 2021, people still are planning their dream vacation to our island, they have hopefully just postponed their plans for a while. We want your business to remain visible to people who are planning future trips, and we are doing our best to achieve this through this crisis.

We are leveraging the VisitAruba platform to share useful information and help community initiatives.

For people and businesses who are servicing the local community in different ways during this challenging time, we will continue to use our VisitAruba platform to spread the word and also ramp up those efforts. Any restaurants who have been forced to close and who have switched to offering delivery or takeout options have been listed on our Aruba restaurant delivery page at no cost. Google searches for takeout and delivery in Aruba will bring up this page, and through our social media channels we will also encourage persons to use the page to reach listed businesses.

Paying it forward

In the interest of ‘paying it forward‘, we will also pay particular tribute to and promote any businesses who are making special efforts at this time to help the elderly and most vulnerable, as well as to help people in the medical profession who are on the front lines helping the sick. Any beneficial initiatives towards the Aruban community will also be highlighted and promoted on VisitAruba.com and social media channels. If would like us to share any such initiatives, please reach out and we will spread the word as much as we can!

Thank you for your continued support, together we can pull through this and come out stronger than ever!