Annual tourism report is upbeat
It has become a tradition under Minister of Tourism mark Espat… and you can’t really blame him. With the biggest business in the country going nowhere but up, today’s annual industry presentation was a chance for government to put out some good news that needed no spin to make it shine. Patrick Jones Reports.
Patrick Jones, Reporting
The monthly reports of increased tourist arrivals have now been immortalized in song as a B.T.B. commissioned composition by Andy Palacio. The tuned made its debut this morning at the sixth annual Tourism Industry Presentation. Industry representatives from all areas the nation gathered in Belize City for a review of achievements over the last twelve months and to hear plans for the next year. Minister of Tourism Mark Espat says 2003 was a year of record advancements for both tourism and culture.
Mark Espat, Minister of Tourism
“Arrival statistics in tourism tell the story best with overnight arrivals increasing for the fifth consecutive year by a significant, region-leading eleven percent. Cruise arrivals surged by a hemisphere-leading eighty-five percent. All together, almost eight hundred thousand individual visitors saw the Belize tourism product in 2003.”
“In culture, NICH opened the refurbished Belize City House of Culture, an investment of over one million Belize dollars. This Bliss Centre for the Performing Arts was inaugurated just a few weeks ago as the flagship stage of the Institute of the Creative Arts. The Punta Festival, the NICH Magazine, the ongoing work of the tourism development project, including the upgrading and paving of the Caracol Road, new facilities at many of our Mayan sites, including the Barton Creek Caves, the National Arts Collection, these are all tangible projects of NICH.”
But the B.T.B. is not content to rest with those achievements and has proposed a very ambitious program for 2004, including an aggressive five million dollar marketing effort aimed at attracting more overnight visitors, paving of the roads to Placencia and Altun Ha, and a new water system for Caye Caulker village.
Mark Espat
“Once again, this year the B.T.B. Hotel tax revenues will be complimented by three million dollars from government’s central consolidated fund, specifically for the purpose of marketing Belize. And on the cruise tourism front, discussion continue between Carnival Cruise Lines and the Ports of Belize limited regarding the proposed cruise tourism facility in the Port Loyola area. The Cabinet has endorsed the proposals for this expansion of the port facility with the expectation that all major cruise lines serving Belize will have an interest in the long term success of this destination.”
And to help in ensuring the long-term viability of the industry, Espat says government–having already announced a jump from seven to nine percent in the hotel tax-believes that it’s best not to kill the goose and its golden eggs.
Mark Espat
“Our ministry recognizes that tourism taxation has become a serious and a central concern of the industry. This concern is entirely justified as are the industry’s demand for tightening tax loopholes, adequate lead-time, and responsible spending. In the case of the adjustment of the hotel tax, a year’s notice we believe provides adequate time for the new rates to reach the consumers. Our ministry though will advocate a moratorium on any additional direct tourism taxation for the remainder of this term of office.”
According to Director of Tourism Tracy Taegar, forty-nine percent of B.T.B.’s budget, or four point eight million dollars, will be spent on marketing and public relations, three million on product development, and two million dollars on administrative and capital expenditure. These she says will be financed through various sources, with sixty-one percent to be derived from hotel taxes and thirty percent from a government subvention. The other nine percent will be obtained from cruise taxes and other revenue sources. Taegar says this year’s marketing plan has three main objectives.
Tracy Taegar, Director of Tourism
“To strengthen Belize’s presence in our primary market and build destination awareness to key market segments; two, to develop potential new markets; three, to increase the visitor return rate by converting cruise passengers to overnight visitors.”
Taegar says that the plan, which calls for an overall surplus of a hundred thousand dollars, is financed to suit its goals.
Tracy Taegar
“This is our sixth year at it, we think its important to put our plan on paper so we can have milestones to measure our results and to measure our success. It really includes the recommendations and suggestions of the private sector, so I think that there will be a lot of support for its execution and certainly help us to reach our targeted goals.”
And the plan does not only make provisions for established business in the tourism industry. B.T.B. today announced a new initiative called the Toucan Trail, which will give major publicity to small enterprises in rural communities.
Tracy Taegar
“The hotel infrastructure, almost sixty-five percent of our hotels in Belize are small Belizean-owned, and certainly we have to include them. It’s a vital part of our product, our tourism infrastructure, and so we have to expose that to the rest of the world. It gives Belize a sense of charm, certainly there is authenticity of the product, and I think that is something that we need to promote so that we can attract a greater share of the tourism market.”
Secretary of the Caribbean Tourism Organization Jean Holder, who was a special guest at today’s industry presentation, says he has seen Belize’s tourism come to fruition over the years and likes the direction it is headed.
Dr. Jean Holder, Secretary General, C.T.O.
“We are into a world that is looking for experiences, and Belize seems to be blessed with having a variety of experiences. I think of course it has a very special product in the archaeological sites, but over and above that, I think that its environment is particularly arranged for some of the experiences that people are looking for. And I am particularly happy to see–the Minister said there was not a symbiosis, but I think that the connection between culture and heritage and tourism here, especially its administration under one ministry, augers particularly well for the future.”
Holder says the announcement of the tax cap by Minister Espat is welcome news for the local tourism product and regional governments invariably find themselves between a rock and a hard place trying not to over-tax the tourism industry while at the same time maintaining a high quality product.
Dr. Jean Holder
“One of the ways it can recommend itself to the wider community is by palpably making a greater contribution to the cost of tourism generally, and certainly helping land-based tourism, which produces nine-tenths of the revenue, to perform better. There is enough business out there for cruise tourism and for land based tourism. We are the world’s largest cruise tourism destination. We are of critical importance to the cruise industry, and it is my hope and prayer that the cruise industry along with everyone else will certainly help us to increase the resources we need.”
Patrick Jones, for News 5.
While he announced a moratorium on new taxes on land-based tourism operators, Espat did announce a two U.S. dollar increase in the head tax for cruise passengers. This money, he says, will be used to finance conservation and infrastructure projects.
