Cruise Tourism in Belize on steady decline

[wadethegringo]

The high season in tourism is kicking in just as the figures for the third quarter are being released. The industry is one of the top income earners so the numbers are closely watched. The stats show that for the period July to September, there was a small increase in arrivals and overnight stays. Cruise ship tourism, however, did not fare well and the number of visitors went down significantly in the third quarter. News Five’s Isani Cayetano has that report.

 

Isani Cayetano, Reporting

 

Recent statistics on the performance of the tourism sector in the third quarter of this year indicate that cruise tourism in Belize is on a steady decline. In July and August there were twelve percent and eleven percent decreases in the number of arrivals, respectively.

 

 

Michael Arana

 

Much of what is happening, in terms of the irregularity of arrivals, is being attributed to the tender crisis which erupted in early January.

 

Michael Arana, Tourism Data Analyst, B.T.B.

 

“The cruise arrival figures have been unpredictable since the beginning of the year. At the beginning of the year, in January, we had a problem with the Carnival Cruise Line in terms of this cruise tender issue and we started to see some significant decreases there because they started to cancel some of their ships. Since then the trend has been erratic, some months we see increases [and] some months we see decreases. It has been quite unpredictable but we are looking forward to increases in the third quarter largely because we‘re entering into the high season and normally we see a lot of promotional activity and also the climate in this region begins to become more favorable for travel.”

 

While the industry attempts to recover from the hardships faced during the first three months of 2011 figures for September also reflect a six percent reduction in arrivals. Since the beginning of the year arrivals have been down ten percent altogether, including the threat of Hurricane Rina last month which saw several ships being canceled. The overnight sector, on the other hand, is performing well.

 

http://ambergriscaye.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/422492/Cruise_Tourism_in_Belize_on_st.html#Post422492

[evandbob]

Do you think if there was a way for ships to anchor off Ambergris Cay and tender pax to San Pedro, that tourist activity would increase?

 

Would pax prefer San Pedro to Belize City as a POC?

 

And yes, I realize most of the waters offshore of Ambergris are protected and shallow, and contain the best remaining reef in this hemisphere. Just wondering aloud what if?