I asked some friends to answer three questions and I will publish their responses:
Do you think Aruba is starting to suffer or has been suffering from over tourism?
In the event that you find it is, how does it affect you in your everyday life? Where do you feel it?
Bring up one or two practical suggestions what we as an Island can do, you can keep it short or long.
This column was written by a father of two adult children, unable to help them buy their first home
The column from Friday, August 2nd, was well written and did a great job covering the situation. I’d like to address one of the big elephants in the room and that is the housing crisis which is affecting locals. Why did Aruba develop a tourism industry?
Simple answer, to develop its economy to provide an income for government and its citizens. That income is the ability to buy a home, among other things.
Fast forward to today and we see that locals cannot afford to buy either a piece of property or a simple (no frills) home.
Twenty-five years ago my wife and I bought land and built a decent starter home for approx. Af. 250K. Today, a small house that needs serious work goes for AF 500K. This is affecting our younger generation of workers.
Young locals armed with university degrees who make a decent salary cannot afford their first home, the only true asset most will ever have. And the reasons are obvious – foreigners have bought properties in Aruba at way above market prices and most have put them into the short-term vacation rental market for investment purposes.
This has not only driven up the prices of real estate beyond what locals can afford, but also decreased the availability of real estate. If you look at all the real estate projects that have been built recently or current in the pipeline, all are targeted to foreigners.
So what’s the solution? Prohibit foreigners from putting their homes in the vacation rental market in Aruba. It’s called the shared economy, and it is supposed to be shared with locals (as tourism intended it to be) and not foreigners.
Raise property taxes (including condos) substantially for any person owning more than two homes/units (local and foreigner) and on foreign ownership of a single home/unit.
Make the registration process for vacation rentals easy but not cheap.
Make sure the vacation rental is registered as a business and taxes are collected.
Impose heavy fines for noncompliance.
This new department can be easily funded by the surplus income ATA generates until it is able to be financially sustainable, but it should be a separate entity and privatized.
Incorporate a strict moratorium on the number of rooms (not houses/condos) available for vacation rental to make sure there is a balance between having this product available for tourism and homes been affordable for locals.
We need to swing the pendulum back in favor of locals benefitting from our tourism economy and not for the minority and foreigners. Failure to address this issue effectively will have dire consequences which it what we are seeing in cities in Europe which are suffering from over tourism.
The following short remark comes from a drafter, an engineering technician, working in the construction field, a mother of four:
I agree, we are suffering from over tourism.
I see it all the time, around me.
Aruban older couples must sell their houses after 30-40 years because they cannot pay daily living expenses from their pension, and small savings. Canadian & American buy it and within three months it is a rental. There should be a law against foreigners buying property for commercial purpose, tax should be so high that it is not interesting anymore.
Aruba is being sold, it is very difficult for locals to buy, when something goes up for sale, locals bid below asking price hoping to negotiate, outsiders outbid them effortlessly, because the highest offer always wins.
