Tourism Partners Discuss Management Plan for Lighthouse Reef

On Wednesday, tourism partners, primarily those who play an integral part in the sustainable use of Lighthouse Reef and its environs, gathered in a workshop to discuss a sustainable management plan for the area. The plan would come out of the best practices, observations and scientific advice, based on the impacts of climate change on the marine and environmental resources. Two of the main players, Zoe Walker who facilitated the workshop and Shane Young, who directs the Belize Audubon Society’s Protected Areas, spoke on the importance of the workshop.

Zoe Walker

Zoe Walker, Facilitator, Workshop

“We’re working on a sustainable tourism management plan for Lighthouse Reef, for the Half Moon Caye, Blue Hole. We recognize its importance to the tourism sector, and as such, we’re putting in place a plan that will ensure that the values out there that tourism depends on are put in place for the long term. As part of that, we have a large number of the tourism stakeholders who are dependent on those resources on the health of the reef – the number of sharks out there, the things that make the Blue Hole, Half Moon Caye special for the tourism operators.”

Shane Young

Shane Young, Director, Protected Areas, Belize Audubon Society

“We are meeting with key tourism stakeholders who use Lighthouse Reef Atoll, promoting dive and snorkeling tours and the discussion today is to identify key tourism values looking at economic, the stakeholder values, and also the environmental values. What are affecting these values and what can be done to address these threats and issues affecting these values for the next five years? Yeah, their input is very important because when we look at the tourism sector, what you want to create or what is promoted is the visitor experience. And it’s important that we identify these tourism values and put strategies in place, um, to maintain and improve the values because at the end of the day, it’s the visitor experience and the visitor satisfaction that we’re looking at.”