For 6 days last week Belize was a virtual island, electronically cut off from the outside world without any phone, email, or internet. And while it was a personal inconvenience for those of us who couldn't check our emails, the communication blackout brought the $200 million a year machine that is the tourism industry to a sudden crawl. With no phone and no internet there were fewer airplane reservations and fewer reservations meant that flights arrived and departed with more empty seats. John Searle is Chairman of Belize Global Travel Services and he says his company's operations were crippled last week.
John Searle, Chairman - Belize Global Travel Services
"We had no communications whatsoever. We couldn't fall back on telephones, we couldn't fall back on internet or emails, and our own in-house communications were completely down. It's not easy to do business, in our line of business, without a full line of communication. We were able to make notes of what our clients required and relay those notes to our counterparts at the Belize International Airport where communication was more stable than they were in Belize City. So though it was difficult, we were not completely shut down; we were able to operate to a very great extent."
Keith Swift,
Did you all lose money?
John Searle,
"Of course. It cost us money in reservations we couldn't make. People were going straight to the airlines and the airlines' themselves were, I think, having trouble. Yes it did cost us some money. I think as far as the airlines are concerned there are people that cancelled their trips into Belize once word got out that things were going wrong. The airlines that we represent, Taca Airlines, certainly kept up all of their flights but there was a marked difference in the number of people that we were carrying in and out of Belize."
"I think that we have to resolve the problems that we have at the moment. When things get back to normal we must ensure that word gets out worldwide that we are back to normal, that it is a safe place to come to, and that Belize is the peaceful tranquil haven of democracy that we claim it is in our national anthem. Once we stabilize the situation I think you'll find that tourism will return."
Both American Airlines and U.S. Airways cancelled flights last week. There are no reports that the cruise industry was also affected.
