Island fever: vacation travel booms in a Caribbean hotspot, prompting some to worry about its impact.

Aruba is about as close to paradise as you can imagine. Stunning turquoise waters, powdery white beaches and romantic sunsets have lured tourists for decades. Its position outside the hurricane belt allows for year-round tourism, while constant trade winds provide a respite from average 28-degree Celsius temperatures.

"I've traveled to a lot of places and I must say this is the nicest place I've ever been," says 27-year-old Jennifer Garrity, a pediatric nurse from Boston who came on the recommendation of her travel agent. "People are so open and outgoing and nice. Always smiling, and you can tell it's natural, not fake."

It's no wonder, then, that the island has the highest number of repeat visitors in the Caribbean. Tourism accounts for 40% of the economy. Part of the Netherlands, although politically autonomous, Aruba took in a record 732,514 overnight tourists in 2005, closing in on quadruple the 1985 figure and more than seven times the current population. More than a half-million came off of cruise ships, which now take up so much space at the island's main port that the government is diverting all cargo from Oranjestad to a new harbor being built to the southeast, in Barcadera.

The island's government and the tourism industry are rushing to keep up, forging ahead with investments totaling more than $274 million for 2006. The main port is getting a facelift, including an upscale, 18-hectare waterfront village with 300 to 350 residential units and more than 10,000 square meters of commercial and retail space. The government is investing $16 million in a 16-kilometer-long park-the largest in the Caribbean--stretching from Aruba's Queen Beatrix International Airport to the end of the high-rise hotel corridor.

Several major air carriers recently increased their service to the island, among them American Airlines, Continental, US Airways and Delta. A $34 million expansion is under way at the airport to create a new central security area, install elevators for disabled travelers, and to distribute free luggage carts.

The bulk of new investments, however, will be at the island's hotels and resorts, where more than $224 million has been pumped into projects from 2005 through 2007. The RIU Aruba Grand has begun a $60 million expansion to add 286 rooms, turning it into a five-star, 451-room hotel to be rechristened the RIU Palace. The Holiday Inn Sunspree Aruba is undergoing a $5 million renovation, the first phase of a three-year program. The Occidental Grand Amba Resort is finalizing its $24 million transformation to open as the island's first luxury, all-inclusive property.

Aruba's three Divi Resorts are all expanding. The Divi Aruba Phoenix Beach Resort is building a $20 million tower that will more than double the size of the existing property. The Divi Aruba All-Inclusive is investing $5.5 million into creating 55 additional rooms to be ready by December 2006. And the Divi Village Golf and Beach Resort has embarked on a $42 million endeavor.

The Aruba Marriott Resort and Stellaris Casino completed a ballroom and casino expansion in 2005; it has begun a $3.4 million room renovation and it will spend $12 million more renovating rooms in 2007. The Renaissance Aruba Resort & Casino is completing a $10 million upgrade. The Hyatt Regency Aruba Resort & Casino began a $20 million refurbishment in June.

Six new restaurants also are going up across the island, and private tour operators are expanding. De Palm Tours is putting $5 million toward a new fleet of all-terrain vehicles and Land Rovers and a major renovation to its private De Palm Island, where the construction of slides at its new Parrot Fish water park is almost complete.

An even larger water park is in the works close to the high-rise hotels. The Morgan's Island Aruba Aqua Park will be the largest water park in Latin America and the Caribbean, spreading across 70,000 square meters.

Tourism growth worries some in the industry. Cars and all-terrain vehicles are blamed for eroding sand dunes, while pollution and human contact are harming corals and marine life. Conservationists say intense hotel development has made the beaches an increasingly inhospitable place for endangered Caribbean sea turtles to lay their eggs.

"We have concentrated too much on economic development and not enough on conservation aspects," says Byron Boekhoudt, a marine biologist and policy advisor to Aruba's Ministry of Labor, Culture and Sport. "There seems to have been an imbalance for a long time. Now we're playing catch-up."

As a result, many of the tourism authority's new efforts are now focused on "sustainable tourism," an industry buzzword for environmentally friendly tourism that seeks to explore natural areas while trying to leave few human traces.

Savings. Aruba's Bucuti Beach Resort, for instance, has won awards for its extensive recycling, energy and water conservation programs, as well as wildlife and indigenous plant preservation, making it the eco-star of the island. "It is a considerable investment but it pays back, on the average, between one to two years," says the Bucuti's owner, Ewald Biemans. "From there on it's actually a tremendous savings."

The island, too, is embarking on an ambitious coastal management plan, financed by international development grants, to try to protect its shores for-and from--tourism. It plans to designate all of Aruba's national waters as a marine park, for instance. Water users will have to get permits that can be revoked if they don't comply with environmental standards. Tour boats will need government permits under the plan, and officials will have better control over zoning changes that affect the beachfront.

Biemans, who also chairs the environmental committee for the Aruba Hotel and Tourism Association, says the appeal of environmental technologies and practices is catching on. Green Globe, a private benchmarking organization that examines hotel properties and their environmental practices, now certifies six of the island's 25 hotels. In September, too, Aruba will be hosting a conference with Caribbean tourism ministers on sustainable tourism.

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JEN ROSS * ORANJESTAD, ARUBA