Will Independent Tour Operators be Relocated to the Marion Jones?

A public consultation involving stakeholders within the Fort George Tourism Zone is underway at the Marion Jones Sporting Complex, the proposed staging ground for the relocation of tour buses in Belize City.  The bottleneck caused by the parking of buses in the Fort George neighborhood, particularly in the vicinity of the Radisson Hotel and the Memorial Park, has been a year-round nuisance for residents in the area.  Back in February, independent tour operator Yhony Rosado raised the issue of the proposed relocation; however, it was under a previous municipal administration.  Since taking over on March seventh, a new city council team has been looking at the idea of the move to the Marion Jones parking lot.

Hubert Pipersburgh

Hubert Pipersburgh, Chair, Fort George Tourism Zone

“The idea is to have the Fort George Tourism area be more friendly towards the tourists and to the residents, so what we’re trying to do is bring the staging area from over there to this location so we could down on the congestion and the chaos that may happen when tourists come off the boat.  So that’s what we’re doing here right now, engaging these residents in this area, we have this consultation process where we’re telling them, this is what we propose, how does it impact you and what are your thoughts on us bringing the staging area from out from the Fort George area to here.”

Isani Cayetano

“If memory serves me right, this same scenario has played out before with the previous city council administration where this idea was placed on the table and it was met with objection from some of the independent tour operators operating within the Fort George Tourism Zone.  If for whatever reason the consultation today doesn’t go in favor of B.T.B. and City Hall, what happens next?”

Hubert Pipersburgh

“Well, I can’t speak to what occurred before because I wasn’t part of that process, however, I am hoping that this particular process will be successful.  Now you want me to speculate as to what will occur if it doesn’t.  I can’t because I don’t know what we will do going forward.  I would have to get together with the B.T.B. and the Belize City Council and we’ll decide how we want to move forward on this.  But I’m hoping that this result will be successful and that the residents will come with us tonight and give their concerns and we can see how we can have an amicable solution to relocation of the staging area from over there where it’s congested to here where it’s much more spacious and they have more opportunity to not have the chaos down there once the tourists come off the boat.”