Aruba Tourism Concerns: Who Cares?

Could the Aruban police have failed any more miserably than they have in the Natalee Holloway case?

From AP:

Aruban police on Sunday questioned the father of a Dutch teenager held in the disappearance of an Alabama teenager, hoping the island justice official may know something to help solve the mystery of what happened to her, an official said.

Paul van der Sloot, a judge-in-training on the island, was questioned for two hours Sunday afternoon after five hours Saturday night, said Police Superintendent Jan van der Straaten.

Joran van der Sloot, 17, one of the people last seen with Natalee Holloway the night she disappeared. Three other men have been detained, but no one has been charged.

Van der Straaten said the father was asked to come back Sunday because officials were not able to finish the interrogation on Saturday, but declined to give more details.

"He was questioned as a witness, no more or no less," van der Straaten told The Associated Press.

The attorney general's spokeswoman, Mariaine Croes, said witnesses are questioned when prosecutors believe they may be able to add something to the case.

"You may know something more or you may have seen something more, but you are not a suspect or thought to be part of any crime," Croes said.

During Sunday's interrogation, van der Sloot's wife, Anita van der Sloot, met with Joran in jail, said van der Straaten.

Anyone who's frustrated by our legal system should take a look at how horribly Aruban authorities have botched the investigation into Natalee Holloway's disappearance.

It amazes me that the individual or individuals responsible for what happened to Natalee have yet to admit to it and direct authorities to her whereabouts. It's been three weeks now and they can't crack this.

According to AP:

Both officials and residents of Aruba are worried that the publicity surrounding Holloway's disappearance could hurt the island's lucrative tourism industry.

The island is just 18 miles off Venezuela's coast and depends heavily on American visitors. Tourism officials said three-fourths of the estimated 728,000 tourists last year were from the United States.

OOOH!! Poor Aruba and its tourism industry! What about Natalee?

I don't think the incident would have had any long term effect on the island if the authorities had accepted more FBI assistance in the investigation and it had been resolved reasonably quickly.

For every day the case remains open, Aruba can kiss another tourist dollar goodbye.