Taxi Union Up In Arms About BTB Decision at FSTV

There is an ongoing rift between the Belize Tourism Board and the Fort George Tourism Zone Tour Operators and Taxi Union to report on tonight, following a meeting held today to discuss the current state of affairs at the Fort Street Tourism Village.  According to the executives of the union, decisions have been taken by B.T.B. in outlining specific plans for the zone which directly affect their livelihoods as tour guides and taxi operators.  Despite discussing the matter with the organization over the past three years they believe that the decisions being taken are one-sided and an appeal is being made for Director of Tourism Karen Bevans to give them a listening ear to have the matter resolved.

Alton Bowen, President, Fort George Tourism Zone Tour Operators & Taxi Union

Alton Bowen

“A lot of the membership out on the ground at the Tourism Village have concerns in terms of the way the system currently operates and I would like for the director mainly to maybe just have an audience with the general membership in order to have an idea and to hear from these people what are the challenges that they face on the ground, what are the things that are affecting them and hear their concerns from them directly so that she could better decide and make a better judgment in terms of how things should operate on the ground.  Basically, just for her to see for herself and hear for herself what is really going on on the ground because I feel that in some respect the tour guides are really being misrepresented out on the ground, you know.  So on that respect I really would like to see the director have an audience with these people so they can be updated on what’s going on.  What we say sometimes people might take it one way or the next so hearing it directly from the actual regulators of the system then people will maybe give more confidence and have more hope in terms of what to expect for the future.”

Isani Cayetano

“Are you guys being directly affected by these decisions, in terms of your livelihoods?”

Alton Bowen

“Well yes, in a lot of ways because at this point it kinda, it’s beginning to seem as if though we are getting into a system where it’s like a dictatorship in some ways because it’s either you go with this system or you don’t, which I think is unfair because we have been trying to work in good faith with the BTB and everybody on the ground for that matter.  But there have been deliberate actions on the part of different people to try to undermine the system and what we are trying to do for our membership and this hurts the credibility of our membership towards us.  They feel as though we are misrepresenting them as well.”