FECTAB joins the chorus of NO to Cruise Tourism in Placencia

Another contentious topic in the industry is the proposed introduction of cruise tourism in the Placencia Peninsula. The residents in the village stand squarely against it and have the backative of the village council and the local branch of the BTIA. Today FECTAB also gave the Placencia residents its support, saying that it is too early for a project of that magnitude on the peninsula and that the locals will not benefit. Troy Gabb also told News Five that GOB jumped the gun by starting the process before consulting the people.

Troy Gabb, Secretary, FECTAB

Troy Gabb

“From all indication and information that we have received the people from Placencia do not want to have a village within their village. It is evident that they will not be able to negotiate to get anything other than that because the only somebody will invest their money in an area, meaning the cruise ship lines, is because they’ll build a village, control the flow of the crowds, control the tour operators. As you well see, Carnival uses a Jamaican operator so no Belizean participates in that at all other than just getting the crumbs. And the same it is going to be with Royal Caribbean sooner rather than later. So in the end the Belizeans will still not benefit to the extent that they really should be benefiting. So we at FECTAB, we stand in solidarity with the people who are saying listen it is too early to think about building a village in Placencia. There is a lot of ambiguity. I think at the end of the day the government kind of put the cart in front of the horse. They started the whole process, sold the land, their own C.E.O. of the Ministry of Tourism is the majority share holder of Century 21. Century 21 is the real estate broker for the property to Royal Caribbean. So all that talk—a paper is already in front of cabinet. But now because there is some noise from the Placencia people they are saying now we are going to be doing some consultation. So clearly they would not have been any consultation had this information not leaked out early enough.”

According to Gabb, the focus should be on resolving the issues in Belize City, before extending to new ventures.