The Belize Hotel association meeting to discuss cruise tourism is like Protestants gathering to discuss the pope, you can't expect much nice things to be said. And surely for the past two days at the BHA symposium many not-so-subtle disses were cast at cruise tourism in general and the Carnival project in particular. So this morning, when tourism minister Mark Espat addressed the symposium, many felt that he would clobber Carnival. Did he? Well you'll have to watch the following story to find out:
Jules Vasquez Reporting
Hon. Mark Espat - Minister of Tourism
" Just looking around now, I would have liked to see more faces in the audience from the cruise tourism sector."
True enough, this morning, minister Espat was preaching to the converted in the cruise hating hotel owners. But the sermon might not have been the fist pounding anti cruise invective they were hoping for:
Hon. Mark Espat
"I wish it to be clear from the outset of our government's position on the pros and cons of cruise tourism. We are neither blind proponents of, nor active opponents of cruise tourism. I am a fervent believer in the economic viability of the entire tourism industry both the overnight and cruise sectors."
"The cruise industry stakeholders deserve our applause and respect. They are trying to get theirs. Let us be proud of them."
But that being said, Espat pointed out that cruise tourism merits special consideration:
Hon. Mark Espat
"This sector has a profound and disproportionate impact on the performance and sustainability of the wider tourism industry."
"The overarching fear is that cruise passengers by the hundreds and the thousands will overrun the popular destinations, diminishing the premium you can charge, destroying the exclusivity of Belize and after a few good years. Belize would lose its cruise industry charm and with the loss would e the loss of a steadily growing overnight sector."
And that's a fear that almost all the hoteliers in this room have and Espat told them it is justifiable:
Hon. Mark Espat
"Those of you who have invested in the overnight industry are skeptical, not of cruise tourism as a vehicle for tourism development but skeptical of unregulated, under-managed, under-taxed cruise, unsustainable cruise tourism."
"When the overnight guest is spending more than four times as much as the cruise passenger, when the overnight guest spends and average of eight days versus the eight hours of the cruise passenger, when the total expenditure of cruise tourism is one tenth of receipts from overnight tourism, there is a reason for discussion and reason for seeking at least a level playing field."
"In attracting new cruise industry investment, be it a dollar or a hundred million dollars, government has an obligation to safeguard the 600 million dollars plus already invested in the overnight industry and seek a level playing field."
And for Espat the answer is in a cruise industry that is well regulated and open to local opportunity and investment:
Hon. Mark Espat
"Cruise tourism, like the overnight sector, must be managed, not managed exclusively and impulsively by government but managed in partnership with the tourism private sector. There is a process for approving a 1000 room hotel were it proposed for downtown San Pedro or smack in the middle of Placencia; cruise tourism should be subject to the same environmental, social and economic review as any other development."
"Rational limitation on cruise arrivals must be respected and enforced. It is clearly better to have 20 good years, rather than 5 outstanding years followed by 15 bad ones."
"The more owners involved in every activity, the better for the country. If the same company owns the cruise ship, owns the pier, owns the village, owns the bus company, owns the taxi operation, takes a disproportionate cut from the tour, charge an on-board marketing fee, then there is little or no trickle down."
And to get turns that are agreeable to local conditions - this minister of tourism says that negotiations must always be made form a position of strength:
Hon. Mark Espat
"If we believe we that need them more than they need us, we do a great disservice to our country and her people. Then, we would be truly guilty of being prophets of doom and gloom. Offering the best investment climate does not mean that government's commitments are airtight while those promised by the investor are unenforceable. That's not a partnership; that's a giveaway. The last time I checked there was no cruise itinerary entitled ‘a cruise to nowhere.' We cannot undervalue ourselves."
And if we take his meaning as this group did today, the still secret Carnival contract in its original form was negotiated from a position of relative weakness.
And while Espat used his address to speak generally about cruise tourism and its pitfalls, in a question an answer session with the participants after his speech, he discussed the Carnival project in specific terms, saying that the present impasse has resulted because government has some concerns about the project:
Hon Mark Espat - Minister of Tourism
"There are clauses in that agreement that the government and cabinet is uncomfortable with and we are seeking to address. Very direct issues such as the opportunity for Belizean individuals and Belizean companies to be employed such as a commitment to ensure that there is a minimum number of passengers that arrive. A commitment that there will be an adherence to the cruise tourism policy and to the licensing process."
"But any investment has to be done on equitable terms and I insist that our product is one that is a world class tourism product and that in the same way that we offer the opportunity, the privilege for a company to invest in Belize, in the same way they must offer us and our people real opportunities not just pie in the sky promises."
"We have to believe that the majority of the people in tourism as well as those in the area that will benefit have to be concerned that this is not just a promise that will go unfulfilled. But that this investment, if it is made, and if it is in fact a hundred million dollars that it will bring measurable and tangible benefits to them."
Jules Vasquez
"Clearly from their view: we made a deal with them and we are now reneging on that deal."
Hon. Mark Espat
"Well I don't think that any policy as it relates to the laws of Belize can be construed as reneging on any deal. We've been looking forward to seeing the business plan we have not yet been able to review the business plan to see exactly how the one hundred million dollars will be invested. And we are looking to strengthen those provisions that will guarantee jobs, that will guarantee opportunities for Belizeans."
While government has its reservations, our information is that Carnival, whose annual earnings are greater than Belize's GDP, does not want to hear it, and has made it clear that it is looking at other prospective destinations in the region to build its terminal.