Turneffe Atoll Now Offers More Options to Visitors

The Turneffe Atoll Sustainable Association (TASA) today showed off new options for tourists under the brand Blue Rise. TASA says lessons learned by the onset of COVID-19 have brought about new ideas of building Belize’s resilience and the carefully designed plan broadens the scope for tourists to choose from when visiting Belize. News Five’s Marion Ali was at Turneffe and has this report.

Marion Ali, Stand-up

“Behind me is the Calabash Nature Trail. It is one of Turneffe Atoll’s five new services to advance their tourism product, and falls as a part of a larger sustainable tourism development plan.”

Beverly Wade

Beverly Wade, Vice Chair, TASA
“What Blue Rise is really the financial sustainable model for Turneffe and it is a new brand that Turneffe is now looking at important key areas here within the marine reserve that we can now offer to our tourism stakeholders and to visitors who want to come here and to market it in a way that people appreciate coming to visit Turneffe but also paying to visit and to visit these packages.”
The packages complement the Ministry of the Blue Economy, whose mission is also to support innovative means of generating revenues through environmentally friendly projects, as C.E.O. in that Ministry, Kennedy Carillo outlined.

Kennedy Carillo

Kennedy Carillo, C.E.O., Ministry of the Blue Economy

“By 2030, the goal is that we will be able to show the tangible effects of the important work of our ministry and our partners in the pioneering and building of our Belize Blue Economy. Central to the realization of this mission are the functional and productive blue resources and their associated ecosystems. Belize’s marine protected areas are important tools in ensuring that our conservation targets are met ensuring that we have resources that support our blue economic development and climate change resilience.”

The five new options include the recently sunken Witconcrete ship, the Calabash nature trail, the Calabash underwater trail, a mooring network, and a Blue Rise online portal that eliminates the use of paper.

Marion Ali for News Five.