B.H.A. & B.B.A. Working to Remedy Border-Bus Woes

Ted Tejada

And so here they are – the B.H.A. concerned about the drop in tourist arrivals, particularly from the European market and the B.B.A. must get its act together in the next six months. Tejada says that they are doing as much as they can and Shaw says that while the demands are big the B.B.A. will answer the call.

Ted Tejada, President, B.H.A.

“We met last two weeks in Belmopan and we agreed with the bus association that the border will be open until the next six months. Unfortunately, it had gone into law that the border was closed. So, it has to go through cabinet to get that there has been a modification to the law. These inconveniences are causing us trouble, as a matter of fact; Holland has issued a travel warning for their guest saying we don’t want our guest to through Belize because there is a conflict between Belize and Guatemala. There is no conflict, but because of that they are saying by-pass Belize. We don’t want that because all the restaurants along the way, the border will also lose money because there is a fee they pay; they spend money along the way. So, there is a trickling effect that has to be remedied immediately. As you know, we took the Bus Association to Guatemala, it is not a done deal over-night, you close the border give me all the business. All you are saying to them, close the border take your business somewhere else. That is not the way we want to conduct business. I think it is very clear to Mr. Shaw, if that is the case, we will only lose 13.5 percent of the entire tourism in Belize. As you know, we are the best income earner for the country of Belize. We have to give them that grace period because if we don’t do that, we are only locking ourselves off from the European tourism to the country of Belize.”

Thomas Shaw

Thomas Shaw, President, Belize Bus Association

“These people were basically asking us for the type of buses, sprinters, etc but basically none of our operators have that in country right now. But as operators in this country, we are going to sell what we have. We have to organize ourselves, unite, have a website and have it so that people can go online and buy a ticket.  After six months, that is the expiration date where our local operators will take off with the ground work here in the country.”

Reporter

“But, what you were saying is that you don’t have capacity to do that?”

Thomas Shaw

“Well, we do have. We have over forty members – not all of the members have the equipment to do the tours. But we do have operators who are part of our association, like premier charters, they have been dealing with cruise ships.”