Belize Leads Global Commitment on Responsible Tourism

Belize is not only selling sun, sea and adventure in London. It is helping to shape a global conversation about tourism that protects the environment, strengthens communities and creates opportunities for local people. As official sponsor of the 2026 Global Responsible Tourism Awards, the Belize Tourism Board is putting the country’s sustainability message front and center ahead of the World Travel Market. News Five’s Shane Williams reports.

 

Shane Williams, Reporting

“Today, Belize isn’t just attending the Global Responsible Tourism Awards. Belize is putting its name behind them. The Belize Tourism Board is the official sponsor of the 2026 Global Responsible Tourism Awards. It’s an international programme recognizing tourism initiatives that are tackling some of the industry’s biggest challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss and cultural preservation. For Belize the message is simple, tourism cannot be just about how many visitors you can attract but about making the places they visit better.”

 

Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism

“This partnership with the ICRT in terms of the World Responsible Global Tourism Awards is important because, again, it shows that we’re leaders. If you heard the speakers, they all spoke about Belize being leaders in this area of tourism.”

 

Belize has plenty of experience to bring to this conversation. Our tourism product depends on the very resources responsible tourism seeks to protect: the reef, rainforests, wildlife culture and tourism adjacent communities. But today, Belize’s role is bigger than simply showcasing itself. Belize is helping to define what responsible tourism looks like.

 

Debbie Hindle, Chair, International Center for Responsible Tourism

“These are important because they share ideas that other people can learn from. And it’s brilliant to see so many people in the room, to have the Belize Tourism Board supporting such an important event that shares knowledge because otherwise, Belize can be having a fantastic idea, but it’s not necessarily known in India or Africa or South East Asia. So our job is definitely to try and share, cross down, break down barriers, and bring those ideas out to the rest of the world.”

 

The regional winners from across the world are competing for the Global Responsible Tourism Awards with the Belize Tourism Board sponsoring this global stage. Jasmine Awad is the CEO of London’s Unseen Tours. Her organization trains and hires homeless individuals to guide tours across London, bringing a perspective only they can.

 

Jasmine Awad, CEO, Unseen Tours

“The reason why we do it is because we want to offer people with lived experience of homelessness an opportunity to learn new skills and get their own platform to talk about homelessness and shape the narrative around homelessness. But of course, it’s also about earning an income and building their confidence through the development of new skills and getting a new job but as well as that, what we want to do is help challenge perceptions around homelessness amongst the people who join our tours.”

 

That gold standard is what the Belize Tourism Board is setting for Belizean operators from the Belize Barrier Reef to our Maya sites, forests and communities. Hoping to grow tourism without losing the very things tourists visit the country to experience?

 

Anthony Mahler

“We have been global leaders in responsible tourism, regenerative tourism, whatever you want to call it, now eco-tourism, and that has been at our core for the last 50 or so years. Like I said in my speech if you look at just the makeup of our infrastructure in terms of our hotel plan, we have about 12,000 rooms, about just over 1,200 properties, so the average size of a hotel in Belize is about ten rooms, nine to ten rooms. And that in itself leads to sustainable approaches that we embrace across the country.”

 

Belize’s tourism industry depends on continue getting that balance right because responsible tourism isn’t just a global trend. It is the future. Reporting from London, Shane Williams for News Five.

 

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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