Grand Resort VIP Prices Add Fuel to Ruta Maya Finish Line Fury

The La Ruta Maya finale is usually all celebration, but this year, it’s stirring controversy. A last‑minute move to shift the finish line to the Grand Resort and Residence has angered paddlers, spectators, and some organizers. What seemed like a simple change has sparked debates over commercialization, safety, and access to public spaces. With new fees and restricted viewing areas, the Grand Resort is now at the center of the backlash. Today, the resort is defending its role, and the nation is watching to see how the race will end. News Five’s Paul Lopez reports.

 

Paul Lopez, Reporting

As the debate over the La Ruta Maya finish line heats up, the Grand Resort and Residence is now right in the middle of the storm. Today, the resort pushed out a flier listing its entrance fees, fueling even more public chatter. Come Monday, spectators can pay seventy‑five dollars for a VIP package or spring for a six‑hundred‑dollar table that seats seven. The resort insists every dollar spent is fully redeemable for food and drinks, but that hasn’t cooled the criticism. We reached out to General Manager Kenneth Williams to hear the resort’s side of the story.

 

Kenneth Williams, General Manager, Grand Resort & Residences

“The La Ruta Maya Committee will be hosting the event at the Haulover Square which is the big open area behind the resort and the La Ruta Maya Committee will be charging a ten dollars fee for adults, anybody over twelve years of age and anybody under the age, there will be no entrance fee for them.”

 

Williams says the race committee approached the Grand Resort about hosting the finish line. He explains the resort hesitated at first, its building holds only about four hundred people, and management worried about safety and possible damage to the deck. So, when the committee settled on the town square as the ten‑dollar public viewing area, the resort created its own separate, premium viewing option.

 

Kenneth Williams

“To clarify that is not an entrance fee. Let me be specific, that is not an entrance. This little area that we are right now is for the hotel. It has nothing to do with La Ruta Maya Association using the Haulover Square, absolutely nothing to do with that. We are charging, but not charging per say, seventy-five dollars, that is towards food and beverage. You come in, you get a coupon for the seventy-five dollars and that is towards food and beverage. You redeem that and the six hundred for the table that is the same thing. That is redeemable. It is a table of seven, so you look at it, that is eighty-five dollars and seventy-five cents per person.”

 

According to the resort, the compound has parking for five hundred vehicles and will come free of charge to spectators. They also noted that people wanting to purchase food and drinks at the restaurant are free to do so. There is a free option for the public. According to the Chief Engineer at the Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Housing, the Haulover Bridge will stay open, giving pedestrians a safe spot to watch the race while still allowing vehicles to move through as usual.

 

On the Phone: Evondale Moody, Chief Engineer, MIDH

“The Haulover Bridge will remain open and must remain open at all time. The Ministry will not close the structure for vehicular traffic and it will also be available for pedestrians to utilize the sidewalks installed on both sides of the Haulover Bridge itself. We have decided to do some work on either sides of the bank, on the north and south side to try and create a platform that visitors and citizens can view the race from their in a safe and convenient manner.”

 

Despite the debate over fees and viewing areas near the Grand Resort, the real flashpoint is the decision to move the traditional finish line away from the BelCan Bridge. Many paddlers and fans say the change feels like the race is being commercialized. One paddler has already taken to Facebook, calling on others to join his team by crossing the official finish line at the Grand Resort, and then continuing to the BelCan Bridge, just as they always have. Tonight, the Belize Canoe Association is backing that push. Vice President Elvin Penner says the association supports the paddlers in their stand.

 

Elvin Penner, Vice President, Belize Canoe Association

“It does show that our initial speculation or our initial feeling that it was just about making money has been confirmed with this flier. So, again, I don’t want to sound like I have any beef with the Grand Resort. I personally made it my business to go to the Grand Resort compound and the surrounding areas and try to picture the possibility of the number of fans we at the BelCan Bridge to fit on that compound and the surrounding areas and I cannot see it.”

 

While the Grand Resort charges premium prices for its VIP setup, the actual finish line sits farther upriver, closer to the estuary, still in clear view of anyone watching from the Haulover Plaza.

 

Elvin Penner

“It is on the pool deck, it is right alongside the river, so you will get a very good view of the paddlers passing, but the ending will be more up the river, by the square. So the general public will have a better view per say, to view the actual ending of the race.”

 

Paddlers have consistently raised safety concerns about the strong currents associated with the estuary. Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.

 

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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