B.T.I.A. to G.O.B. – Let’s Start to Review Protocols Now

Stewart Krohn

The reopening of the P.G.I.A. on October first precedes the opening of the annual tourism season by several weeks.  According to B.T.I.A.’s Second Vice President Stewart Krohn, it is not expected that visitors will be arriving in large numbers at the start of the season which should give government sufficient time to rethink and re-strategize the way it handles the COVID-19 pandemic.  As it stands, Krohn says that local stakeholders will be competing for a twenty-five percent slice of the tourism pie.

Stewart Krohn, Second Vice President, B.T.I.A.

“What we’re saying is let us start the process now of reviewing the protocols in light of what is happening once the airport opens.  If we do that, I feel confident that we will prevail because if we don‘t get something done by late October, that time when the bulk of our visitors book for the winter season and as long as Belize looks like a very complicated place to visit, we are not going to get those bookings.  There‘s a whole Caribbean common market that‘s competing for business.  It‘s really the whole world that‘s competing for tourism business and when you look at the fact that global tourism in general is going to be down probably seventy-five percent, the pie that you‘re looking to take a piece of is going to be reduced by seventy-five percent.  What we‘re competing for is a sliver anyway.  You know, a small amount can make the difference between going out of business and surviving another year until a vaccine is prevalent throughout the world.”