2.1.4 Miscellaneous

could provide a similar check-out sheet or restaurants can provide a nightly reservation/seating chart. Pricelist not available everywhere, booth at airport with pricelist, it worked in the past, but was discontinued due to budget.

2.1.4 Miscellaneous Some of the specific comments made by interview/focus group participants regarding miscellaneous issues are presented below: The all-inclusive hotels do not provide customers; however, it was mentioned that Barcelo provides “some” business, but RUI (Westin) does not seem to need and/or does not use taxi services.

There is a total of 465 taxi permits that have been issued, there is no need for more taxi permits. According to the participants, it is the traffic situation in Aruba that complicates the flow of taxis, not the number of taxis. Previously, the bus was allowed for the workers, but now the bus is used by the tourists as well.

It was also mentioned that the quality of the tourists is different from 15 to 20 years ago. Participants said that these tourists would rather use cheaper transportation options. The quality of tourists have changed and how they use transportation is different, catching a bus never used to happen, but they are doing that now. Changing dynamic and type of tourists. Another point that was brought forward regarding the study is to not look at other locations when assessing this as we are unique in Aruba compared to other locations and countries.

One participant shared that the island is saturated, and it takes longer to get from point A to point B. Another participant mentioned not having a pension after many years of working in the industry. He suggested looking towards the government for supporting a pension plan for permit holders. This could be established through the Tourism Pension Fund.

Figure 4: Word cloud Focus Group