Cruise Tourism Numbers Still Lower than pre-COVID Era  

It’s the high season for cruise tourism, thanks to the chilly winter weather in North America. Many North Americans head to our shores to enjoy the sand, sea, and sun during the Christmas season. However, tourist arrivals in Belize are still slightly below pre-COVID levels. According to Lloyd Enriquez, the B.T.B’s Director of Cruise, the main reason is that Belize City lacks a docking facility.

 

Lloyd Enriquez, Director of Cruise, B.T.B

“The cruise high season runs from mid-November through to around April or May. So we’re in the midst of high season, uh, this year, calendar year of 2024. We’re looking at our around 2% less than last year, 2023. That’s how we will end up. Um, so that’ll bring us somewhere in the region of 800,000 to 850,000 passengers in Belize City. Until we get a docking facility in Belize City or near Belize City, we can expect those numbers to kind of remain in that region of 800,000 or so. Belize City, on average, gets 85 percent disembarkation rate. That’s the, throughout the year. It doesn’t matter what time of the year, high season, low season. We’re pretty much in the region of 85 percent disembarkation rate. The vast majority of those persons who disembark the ship, Go on tours Um the top tours the top destination for tour is actually in a hot chain, which is some people know that as uh, jacquard park So they go there for ziplining then we have the maya sites Altona being closest being the second in terms of visitorship Um, is this this 85%?”

 

Reporter

“How does it compare to other destinations?”

 

Lloyd Enriquez

“Belize is very good. Belize is an excellent tour destination A lot of people come here for the tour and the variety that we have, uh, compared to other destinations in the Caribbean, which may only be sand, sea, sun, we have far more to offer, so you can do activities, snorkeling, you can do onshore activities, you can go ziplining, you can go to Maya sites, you can go caving. So the Belize product is, is much more diverse than what you’d find in the Caribbean.”