Thirteen Percent Decline: Tourism Industry Hoping for Rebound

Tourism remains one of Belize’s leading economic drivers, supporting thousands of jobs and generating millions in foreign exchange each year. But after a difficult summer that saw overnight visitor arrivals fall sharply, industry stakeholders are looking ahead with cautious optimism. New airlift expanded routes and increased seat capacity are expected to help reverse the downturn and strengthen arrivals during the final months of the year. Minister of Tourism Anthony Mahler acknowledges that global challenges took a toll on the industry but says there are signs that the sector is beginning to stabilize.

 

Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism

“With new capacity being added we believe that rest of this year should balance off. Like you said, we have had a difficult summer. So with August being the worst month on record, I think we were down by about thirteen percent. And but that’s a plethora of issues geopolitical issues, the cost of fuel. Some airlines said that their costs have gone up by sixty percent. And I spoke to the CEO of Discover. He said that has equated to, that is equated to billions of dollars for their, all their operations, right?  And Lufthansa has many carriers under its brand, right?”

 

The tourism industry faced a similar difficult slow season last year due to the US federal government shutdown and saw a strong rebound in November. The circumstances are completely different this time around with global economic challenges driving down travel everywhere.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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