Cruise Arrivals Lag as Belize Eyes New Port

Cruise arrivals to Belize are still below expectations, but tourism officials say there’s progress, and a plan to turn things around. Director of Tourism Evan Tillett admits the numbers remain low, yet ahead of last year’s pace. The big challenge is that Belize lacks a mainland docking facility, forcing some of the largest ships to bypass us entirely. That’s changing, with a port project in the works and a shift in the cruise industry toward smaller, high-value ships. Tillett says these moves could boost arrivals in the coming years. He also revealed efforts to crack down on unregistered Airbnb properties to ensure fair contributions to tourism development.

 

Evan Tillett, Director of Tourism

“I will say that the numbers are still low, but I think currently we’re ahead of pace over 2024. The reality of the situation is that we need a mainland port docking facility and, to my knowledge, it is being worked on and so we should be able to have some movement to see the numbers go up when that is completed within the next couple of years. So I think that is one thing, and the rationale is that you have ships that are bypassing us right now because they are just too big to tender. And so, that is really what is affecting the low numbers in the destinations. But there are two things at play. One: the docking facility, it’s in process, in terms of the development of it and having it ready. I think that the government has seen the need for it and they are doing the right things in order to put that in place. But also, there is now a trend where the cruise lines are now building smaller ships. So they have changed the dynamics now, instead of humongous ships, they are now going back to building smaller ships because it’s a situation where you could [go] low impact and high value. I think that is a part of the strategy that they are employing. We think that there are definitely opportunities out there. For instance, you have some Air BnB properties that are still not registered and they are not paying there fair share and we are going after them strategically to ensure that they pay their fair share because the more money that we can get to invest in developing the product, the infrastructure, and in marketing will allow us to put more people in the destination.”