Minister: There’s room for two tourism villages

As a concept, the idea of a mainland cruise ship port on the southside of Belize City was greeted positively when the project was announced last year by Carnival Cruise Lines. But the devil, as they say, is in the details. In this case an existing fifteen-year monopoly awarded to the tourism village, now owned by Carnival’s rival, Royal Caribbean. While government has been trying to negotiate a compromise between the two cruise giants, nothing has yet been finalized. According to Minister of Tourism, Mark Espat, both projects can be successful.

Mark Espat, Minister of Tourism and Culture

“The challenge is that on the one hand, we have Royal Caribbean involved in the ownership of the existing village, on the other hand Carnival is the major supplier of cruise business to Belize. So I think so far we have had relatively constructive discussion with both parties, with the existing village and with the proposed development. We are looking forward to seeing the detailed business plans and the feasibility study of the Carnival project. I think once it is established that the project is realistic, that the costs are realistic, that it can be done then we will go to a different level of negotiations. But so far everyone has been constructive and I think the bottom line is that the government would like to see both projects exist and it’s a matter of discussion and negotiation.”

In related news, Espat says government is currently reviewing the cruise head tax of five U.S. dollars per visitor with an eye to increasing that figure. Regionally, head taxes average eight dollars and fifty cents.