BTB and Other Agencies Embark on Clean-UP in Belize City

The tourism industry is approaching its peak season and the Belize Tourism Board has embarked on a new project that seeks to improve the aesthetics in certain areas. Over the weekend, the B.T.B. collaborated with the Belize Coast Guard and the Police Department to clean up that stretch of the Haulover Creek between Belcan Bridge and the Chetumal Bridge in Belize City. The new venture encompasses much more than cleaning as Director of Industry Development at the B.T.B., Josue Carballo, told us. The effort, he explained, will help to open new tourism opportunities as well as create gateways for residents in the zones being targeted.

Josue Carballo, Director of Industry Development, BTB

Josue Carballo

“This is am very important gateway that tourism and tourism and fishing stakeholders have been using to be able to show our tourism a little fishing expedition, among other things and this is all a part of a bigger program of projects via BTB under Minister Mahler’s vision of transforming tourism, opening gateways in Belize. In this particular one it was an awareness campaign where we’re also touching base with the residents in the Creek Bank area, letting them know that the river – it’s not really their back yard; it’s their front yard because it actually has an opening to a new means of transportation, so in that light, we’re encouraging the residents to continue the clean up on a daily basis and hopefully it is something we can then do more continuously. But the importance of this is that through BTB, we’re getting ready for the high season, so we are working with other ministries, with other stakeholders for us to be able to open these gateways that will provide opening to previous destinations and creating a greater atmosphere of infrastructure growth within the industry.”