Mahler Responds to FECTAB Complaints  

On February twenty-third, the Federation of Cruise Tourism Associations of Belize, FECTAB, held a conference in order to voice complaints about the current state of cruise tourism in Belize. Even though it was reported by the B.T.B. that 2024 is set to be a record breaking year for arrivals, according to the association, local operators are struggling to make even a dollar after a day’s work. Among the complaints were the rising prices of entrance fees for archeological sites. We caught up with Minister of Tourism & Diaspora Relations, Anthony Mahler for a response to those complaints.

 

Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism & Diaspora Relations

“We’ll have to look into that, seriously. I’ve had conversations with all the vendors, all the people who operate out there, actually in, I believe in December we had a big gathering with them. I sat down and spoke to everybody but we have to be able to raise our game all across the country for us to be able to continue to generate the revenues necessary to sustain yourself and your business and your family. And so I’ll sit down and have a conversation with them. They know that we have an open door policy for them, I think the press conferences that they do is just a gimmick and they’re not serious about what they’re saying.”

 

Britney Gordon

“So about the concerns of the raise in fare to enter archaeological sites, is there anything being done to address that?”

 

Anthony Mahler

“In this country we have a tendency to undervalue the natural resources that we have, even our cultural resources. You can’t be charging ten dollars to go into Caracol. It makes absolutely no sense for the growth and development of the site. Most of these things will be passed on to the visitors. And there was a lot of noise about, for a little while, about the departure via the airport. But January was a record breaking month and February is on pace to be a record breaking month for overnight. Now, cruise is lagging a little bit behind because there is need for a docking facility, and I keep saying that. But we’re working on that, and I believe we’ll have some announcements very soon. Hopefully within the next few months.”