Tourism Village gets ready for “Carnival Spirit”
It has been on the drawing board for years, but with only days to go before the arrival of the first cruise ship of the season, the Belize City Tourism Village is about to become a reality. News 5’s Janelle Chanona stopped in to see how things were going at the old capital’s newest attraction.
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
Over the next three days, construction workers and cleaning crews of the Belize Tourism Village will be working furiously as the facility prepares to receive the passengers of the first cruise ship of the season: the Carnival Spirit, due in port on Tuesday.
Allan Deeks, General Manager, Belize Tourism Village
“The Tourism Village phase one is as good as complete, we are ready for the first cruise ship, which is coming in on Tuesday the thirteenth. Most of the shops are getting ready, some of them will not be open yet, but there will be quite a few shops ready.
Cruise-lining tourists are completely a bigger venture to Belize. over the last few days the agents and some of the tour operators have been encouraging cruise-lining to Belize and this is the result of those efforts to bring cruise line tourists to Belize, and they are to be complimented.
We’re going to be looking forward to the best part of thirty thousand tourists between now and the end of December. And in 2002, we’re looking at close to three hundred and eleven thousand tourists.”
Previously, passengers were taken to the Radisson Fort George Dock. Now, cruise ship tenders will bring the tourists to the main terminal of the Tourism Village. The waters just off the dock were dredged especially to accommodate the increased flow of traffic.
With the high number of tourists expected to visit the village, many Belizean businesses are eager to “set up shop” on the compound, despite the steep prices of the stalls.
Allan Deeks
“All the applications have been in, in fact we have a waiting list for stalls in the village. We’re in the process right now of getting trolley kiosks for the smaller vendors.”
And despite the public’s perception that Belizeans will not be able to enjoy the amenities of the village, Deeks says that locals are always welcome.
Allan Deeks
“There’s some duty free stores in here, but it will be open to the Belizean public too. In fact, we hope that by keeping the place open seven days a week, it will become and area for the community to come to and enjoy and be able to shop.
There will be entertainment for the cruise-liners when they come in, as you can see, in the gazebo here. But I would think that as we expand and go along, probably there will be parties and activities.”
Given that many North Americans are still afraid to fly, local tour operators are banking on the chance that many tourists will now take to the sea, and bring plenty of spending money with them. Reporting for News 5, I am Janelle Chanona
While Tuesday marks the arrival of the first ship of the season, the official inauguration of the Belize Tourism Village is slated to take place on December first.
