Minister of Tourism on Balancing COVID Safety and Viable Business

On Monday, Tourism Minister, Anthony Mahler told News Five the outlook for Belize’s tourism industry is promising, with more flights and cruise ships beginning to call at our points of entry. But because COVID is in our midst and can quickly turn life upside down, steps have to be taken to balance safety and livelihoods. He says he recently got a regional perspective as well.

Anthony Mahler

Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism

“There’s a huge difference between being open nine and ten and eleven if you’re a food and beverage operator, if you’re a bar, restaurant. So, I understand the frustration from that standpoint. A lot of people are on the brink after almost eighteen months of this. You can fly into the country without being vaccinated; you can go to church, but you can’t eat. Now, Cabinet is a collective decision, so I’ll have to go with it when we meet again in Cabinet in two weeks’ time, I will present a position of the tourism industry. I meet this week with both BTIA and BHA to lay out our plan or our position as to how we would want to see the economy open up going into 2022. Last week I was in Panama for a cruise conference and I spoke to other colleagues from Central America and the Caribbean and they’re looking at serious ways on how they can reopen back their economy fully and in a safe way. So we’re having that discussion at that level.”