B.T.B. Says Belize City Has Gotten Major Upgrade
You’ll note that Brackett disagrees with the article’s critical tone where Belize City is concerned. And there, indeed, he is joined by the B.T.B.’s Director of the Cruise and Regional Initiative Valdemar Andrade. Andrade reiterates that feedback has been consistently positive from those who go on tours and sample the product and country of Belize. And where Belize City is concerned, while it is a work in progress, there is no questioning the enhancements and improvements put in place by the B.T.B. and the Belize City Council, all to bolster the tourism product.
Via Phone: Valdemar Andrade, Director, Cruise and Regional Initiative, B.T.B.
Valdemar Andrade
“For Belize City now, for the last few years, the Ministry of Tourism and Belize Tourism Board have invested over, just close to six million dollars in the Fort George Tourism Zone area to upgrade the area. As you can see also, the City Council has put in millions of dollars in fixing the streets around the city to ensure that it has a lot better presentation and also facilitation for connectivity throughout the city. So basically we are working on those issues and we’ve also organized the tourism zone in a much better fashion where we now have a designated vendor’s area for all who sell Belizean craft behind the Mirab area. So we have some thirty vendors that work in that area to be able to sell their craft to the people who come off, our visitors from the cruise lines. And we have also organized how the tour operators and tour guides get people to go on tours and facilitate them to go on tours. We have also put in extra security; we have security throughout that zone and on tours to ensure that people have a safe and secure experience and also a good experience. And we also have tourism police who assist us in ensuring that people are safe. So we have to look at where we were three years ago as to where we are today. I think definitely that there…it all depends on the perspective that you take. I mean if you look at the reviews on a whole, there are always mixed reviews on what is there to do in the City. So from my perspective, as managing the Belize cruise ship destination, I would definitely challenge anybody that wrote that to come down and look at what there is to do. Look at the great culture, the great cuisine, the great foods that we have to offer in Belize and let’s put that whole issue to bed and definitely ensure that that becomes untrue.”
The other four destinations listed are the Bahamas, Jamaica, Honduras and the Dominican Republic.
