'Put Belizeans first' it's an old refrain that's won an election or two in its day and it's never too old to be trotted out for a protest. And that's what we saw in the city today as a newly formed group, FECTAB, the Federation of Cruise Tourism Associations of Belize organized a motorcade protest against what they call powerful foreign interests that are taking control of the cruise tourism industry. 7NEWS was there when things got rolling and FECTAB President Tom Greenwood told us more.
Tom Greenwood,
"We have 3 entities out in the Caribbean, two out of Jamaica and one out of Cozumel, that are now seriously encroaching on the services of the cruise industry in Belize and one disgusting factor is that we notice that these incomers, as we call them, get preferential rates. What we've seen over the past six months is the introduction of stakeholders from the Caribbean locations, notably Cozumel and Jamaica and we saw in a meeting with the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association which sent a delegation down to us, that as they told us, they had a preference for those operators because they've been in cruise shipping 20, 30 years and therefore had all the experience and backup necessary. We tried to appeal to them and to their good graces and say look Belizeans have got funding, Belizeans have moved up, planted this tree, nurtured it, and now that it has grown up Belizeans want to enjoy it. Not so, the cruise lines coldly and brutally told us there was a preference for these operators. It is time for Belizeans to come together and say we planted this tree, we nurtured it, we are watching it grow, we have the ability to make it grow even bigger, we have good funding sources, we have experience, and we are a number one destination, this is our country, give us a chance. Belizeans can and have done it. We need the cruise lines to understand that this is our country, this is our patrimony and in the case of a couple of operators who are here and not even paying entrance fees because they are using sites that are not legislated yet to use entrance fees. We can do it, we have done it, and we will ensure we keep active in order to do it. The exponential growth of 500% of the cruise tourism industry is attracting crocodiles to Belize. The 2 people we depend on are the cruise lines to ensure they keep us alive and the government of Belize to enact whatever legislation there is to keep us alive. We got no beef with government at this moment, there is a slight misunderstanding on one situation but we're correcting that but the cruise lines are playing cold heart on us. Look I have one message okay, if we are not going to enjoy this thing and take breads to our table and watch our children grow and take it over, why should we care about it. If the cruise lines want to embellish somebody from abroad and leave us out of it then I have one message: go away."
And while Greenwood spoke in general terms, the motorcade was largely about Belize Paradise Limited, the controversial company that launched a massive 178-passenger catamaran last week a boat that's creating all kinds of waves. From what we gather, the motorcade took a spin up by Belize Paradise's Headquarters at Gracie Rock.
