David Almendarez isn’t just talking politics; he’s also raising concerns about the state of Belize’s tourism industry. At his solo press conference, he claimed things are so slow right now that some tour guides are being forced to look for other ways to make a living. But is this just the usual off-season dip, or is there something deeper going on?
David Almendarez, Tour Operator
“We deh two months in the slow season. Generally, the slow season is six months. Depending on how the easter flows, it will tell you the length of the seasons. This year the season went all the way to April twentieth. That normally demarcates the end of the season. If you listen to the critics, then you would think we are doing wonderful. Check unu change today. Around this time last year I could not get a tour guide to work for me. Now I could get a tour guide to wash my vehicle. You have tour guides doing construction. Not even two months in the high season do we have that happening. I think it is the fact that we keep increasing the cost of a Belizean experience. We keep increasing the cost. I was in Cancun for Easter and to visit Chichen Itza which is a whole day tour, we leave six in the morning and return eight in the evening, sixty U.S. dollars. The entrance fees to Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM), dah over fifty dollars, just the entrance fees. It goes to show the market research being done before people implement changes.”
