BTB says sensational gang documentary is bad news for tourism
And tonight there is more bad news resulting from the escalating street violence involving gangs that has caught the attention of the foreign press and is landing Belize a black eye. An investigative documentary is circulating on the internet that portrays Belize as one of the world’s most dangerous countries where gangs rule. The piece, which was produced by British Journalist, Ross Kemp, takes you into some of Belize City’s dingiest neighbourhoods where Kemp conducted interviews with gang members sporting their weapons. We bring you a small portion of the sensational one-hour long piece, which the Belize Tourist Board says can negatively affect Belize’s Tourism industry.
Shakira Oxley Tsai, Dir., Marketing & P.R., B.T.B.
“His story has a negative connotation in that the focus is on gangs in Belize and so yes, it’s a concern to us because it creates a bad image for the destination and it’s a concern to our stakeholders as well. So what we’re trying to do—there is little we can do in the form of free press which is what the journalist was able to do in his visit to Belize—but what we would have been able to do to safeguard against that is to be able to work with our partners internationally as well because you know Belize is a destination that offers so much. So we intend to showcase what the destination has to offer as well as continue to work the authorities here in Belize as it relates to crime and violence so that we are able to put at ease any concerns that our travellers might have coming to our destination.”
Marion Ali
“Is it key at this point to really highlight the fact that while there is existence, the presence of gang activity in Belize, that’s merely targeted toward each other and not the tourists or the visiting public?”
Shakira Oxley Tsai
“I believe that this programme is being aired in the UK. As a result of that what we tend to do is work with our partners internationally to say what, if any, damage has been done or created as a result of that so that we’ll have an idea as to the extent of it. I know that in the past as well, for example Jamaica, which has been a destination that has been battling with crime as well—as you know, Jamaica has one of the highest crime rates in the world—they have been affected by events such as these as well and despite that, they have still been able to record increases in their tourism industry. So it’s unfair for us to say okay as a result of this situation that it is going to affect us x, y, and z because we really don’t know yet. But what we tend to do is work with the partners in the target market as well for us to find out what intelligence there is as a result of that. Together with that, we’ll also do more marketing and public relations to show the other side of Belize.”
Just this week the Statistical Institute of Belize reported a decline of five percent in the Tourism Industry in the first half of this year.
