Belize Sets New Record in Overnight Visitors  

In 2024, Belize’s tourism industry hit a major milestone, welcoming an impressive five hundred and sixty-two thousand, four hundred and five overnight visitors. This figure not only matches the pre-pandemic record set in 2019 but surpasses it by a remarkable eleven point eight percent. After the severe impact of COVID-19 in 2020, the industry has been steadily recovering thanks to strategic planning and training from dedicated stakeholders. We caught up with the Tourism Director at the Belize Tourism Board to get the inside scoop on this incredible achievement.

 

Evan Tillett, Tourism Director, B.T.B.

“The benchmark here for overnight arrivals is, or was 2019. In that year, the we got about five hundred and three thousand overnight visitors to our shores. In 2024 we actually crested that and went beyond. We were looking to pass 2019 numbers. But the results and the hard work and dedication of both the private sector and the public sector really is what made us successful. And we grew the numbers over 2019 by eleven point eight percent. This year we saw a total of fiuve hundred and sixty-two thousand people coming to our shores as overnight tourists. So that’s a significant growth. And when you compare to year over year 2023 we are looking at twenty-one point eight percent. So that is even more significant. The overnight tourism is the lifeblood of tourism. We have different facets or different sectors. We have cruise tourism. We have overnight tourism. We have tour operator to operation, etcetera. But for us, the lifeblood off the industry and the area that generates the most revenue is overnight. And so that is the critical part of the industry that we pay keen attention to and are very focused And how we can continue to grow that sector.”