Last week at this time the 27 page carnival contract was a much speculated upon state secret, but this week the widely circulated document is everybody's business. And today it was open season on the controversial contract at the annual general meeting of the Belize Tourism Industry Association. Outgoing president Steven Schulte blasted the project in his opening remarks, calling it the product of pure greed:
Steven Shulte – Outgoing BTIA President
"Look at the Carnival project. An agreement with a few individuals has led them to sell our industry and our nation. They claim they will invest 100 million in our country but the plan only calls for them to build their own pier, their own tourist village, their own shops, their own casino to compete with those business which are here already established. They are investing nothing in the infrastructure of our parks, our Maya sites, our marine reserves, our fisheries or even our agricultural produce. In fact the contract specifically states that they are exempt from dealing with Belizean labor or contractors in the construction or operation of their business."
"They are given the right to bring unlimited numbers of passengers but reduce the fees paid to support our protected areas from 20 percent of the head tax to one flat Belizean dollar, fifty cents U.S. They want to rape our patrimony and tell us it's good for us. And finally they hold themselves apart from any future law or regulation we might want to pass to protect our country's natural resources and our labors. The contract that Carnival has negotiated on a false promise of investing in this country gives them every right to pillage our country and our industry while they drive out their own competition. How will the existing tourist village stay in business if they have to hire Belizean labor under Belizean law while Carnival brings in the cheapest labor it can find. Why should we stand by and give them this advantage?"
With the standing ovation for that stinging parting shot, Schulte wrapped up his term as president and handed over the reigns to Lucy Fleming, of Chaa Creek Lodge. Speaking with Alfonso Noble after her election, Fleming told us what the BTIA hopes to do about what its membership feels is an unjust and advantageous agreement with Carnival:
Lucy Fleming – New BTIA President
"We are not against cruise ship tourism, we are for cruise ship tourism, it is one of our sectors but what we are totally against is the unregulated growth of this sector. We feel that Carnival is the bull in the china shop and we are frightened that this bull will ruin our merchandise and scare off our customers. We're wondering why we weren't consulted as leaders in the tourism industry. We are wondering why our minister was not consulted, nor his ministry, nor the Belize Tourism Board. So we would want some answers from government. And once we have those answers we'll be able to entertain further how we feel. But as of now, no, we are not appreciative that a contract has been signed without bringing us into play because after all we are the heart and sould of the tourism industry in this country."
Alfonso Noble
"Will you all be challenging the contract in court?"
Lucy Fleming
"This was a question which was brought up from the floor and certainly we will be taking that contract, if we can ever get a copy of it to our lawyers and they will be reviewing this contract in the legal sense. And certainly I feel that if there are any legalities which we can challenge we will be challenging them. Because our job is to protect all of our members, all of our sectors. And basically that's what we'll be looking for."
The Belize Hotel Association has also privately expressed an interest in challenging the contract.