Royal Visit Expected to Boost Tourism
The royal tour is also a huge platform for tourism. During their visit to Belize, Their Royal Highnesses, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were able to immerse themselves in the rich culture and biodiversity of Belize. Here’s a recap of their stay during the first stop along the Caribbean tour. News Five’s Duane Moody reports.
Duane Moody, Reporting
While they were here on official duties, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge scheduled some personal time in the south and west of the country. Their trip to South Stann Creek allowed them an opportunity to dive into and experience the underwater wonders of the Caribbean Sea.
“Really fantastic to see the underwater environment here in Belize and what wonderful work they have been doing to protect the coral and the fish life. Belize’s work on marine protection is world leading which is crucial when you’re protecting the world’s second largest barrier reef and in fact, it’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site. And it’s clear to see the Belizeans value their environment – whether it’s the marine environment or the land – and it’s great to see that their commitments are going further and further and we should support them and value their efforts to protect both the marine and the land environments.”
While in the south, Prince William and Catherine were hosted at Jaguar Reef Lodge in Hopkins. When it comes to the host hotels over the three days, one in particular was overjoyed to welcome the royal couple having hosted the Queen herself back in 1994. The San Ignacio Resort, located in the heart of that western town, currently boasts a wall filled with photos of that previous royal visit. This time around, the couple stayed in the newer wing of the resort. But there was much nostalgia among the older staff who worked both events as they welcomed and bade farewell to the royal couple.
A scoop of about forty photojournalists travelled along with Prince William and Kate to document the Caribbean tour to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, having reigned for seventy years. While they covered the various events, they have done the research on the country and were ready to experience what Belize has to offer.
Voice of: UK Reporter [File: 19th March 2022]
“You know what, this seems like a beautiful country from what we’ve done in our research and I am very much looking forward to it.”
Beverly Wade
Beverly Wade, Blue Economy Director
“One of the things that stayed with me is that they actually mentioned that it is good to actually be here to experience it, to feel it and to not just hear about it or read about it. So we are hoping that their experience in Belize will be long lasting.”
Nicole Solano
Nicole Solano, C.E.O., Ministry of Tourism & Diaspora Relations
“I think if you look over the last couple of days, you will get to see what Belize really is and just the places that they visited. They’ve been to the south, visiting archaeological sites; this morning they went to Caracol. So a really good cross-section in a really short visit. So I feel they’ve got a good world wind tour of Belize. That’s excellent.”
The C.E.O. in the Ministry of Tourism and Diaspora Relations says that the level of exposure that the country is receiving will see us tap even further into the UK tourism market.
Nicole Solano
“Regardless of how everything turns out, the fact that they are here in Belize and the coverage that we are getting from all of these international media houses; it is publicity that we couldn’t pay for. So just to have our local media together with the international media, covering the event has been tremendous for us from a tourism perspective.”
Duane Moody for News Five.
