B.T.I.A. Polls Membership for Reopening P.G.I.A.

John Burgos

While schools are now preparing to reopen, there is yet no date for the reopening of Philip Goldson International Airport and stakeholders in the tourism industry are divided on the idea of a July first reopening. On Sunday, Tropic Air President Steven Schulte wrote to the Belize Tourism Industry Association asking for support in the effort to reopen the P.G.I.A. on the initially scheduled date.  The local airline industry has taken a serious hit since the country closed its only international airport.  According to John Burgos, Executive Director of B.T.I.A., there are many in the industry who support the reopening on July first, but there are also many who agree with the continued closure of the P.G.I.A. to ensure that Belizeans remain see from the pandemic.  Because of the division within the sector, B.T.I.A. has decided to poll its membership to get a true picture of where they stand on the matter.

John Burgos, Executive Director, B.T.I.A.

“Over the weekend I had been receiving calls and emails expressing their views on the situation with regards to reopening the Philip Goldson International Airport and they are basing this on a bulletin that I sent out a couple weeks ago where I basically summarized what is happening.  Informally we had heard from our members and we heard from other associations saying that they’re split.  Some people want it to open and some people don’t want it to open.  Some fear dying and some people fear the impact of the economic crisis.  So you have people on both sides of the equation.  So based on that we decided, you know what, let’s find out exactly how our members feel.  So on Saturday we sent out a survey to our membership so that they can let us know, but it wasn’t just to know if it’s going to be opened or not.  We wanted to know if we wanted to reopen what protocols we would want in place, what type of measures you want the government to implement so that we can lower the risk, you know, because I know that that’s what the National Oversight Committee is looking at and that’s what the prime minister is looking at.  What is acceptable low-risk level that we are willing to take.  His stance is on this rapid test and luckily every week it’s improving.  I think the latest one is about eighty-eight percent proof.  That’s the one that Trinidad and Tobago is using.  It’s inevitable that we’re going to have to open the border at some point, you know, but are we going to be ready and are we going to have everything in place?  Even if you develop a protocol right now, you need to make sure that you have all of your staff trained, all the people that are going to be put in direct contact with these tourists, are they going to be prepared to deal with the tourists so that they can protect themselves and they can protect the tourists as well.”