The Belize Tourism Industry Association says it has gotten reports from across the country of tourists simply packing up and leaving early once they realized they couldn't use their credit cards or access a phone. And as the industry continues to tally its losses from early departures, and missed reservations, BTIA's General Manager Andrew Godoy says there is no dollar figure that can be put to he damage done to Belize's good name, that is the beacon of peace and stability in this region.
Andrew Godoy, Gen. Mgr. - BTIA
"When we had the services, the loss of communication services, we saw that internet booking went down. In fact most of our internet booking is done in-house and so there were travel agents, wholesalers, and individuals who were trying to book and could not connect with local hoteliers. We see that people could not confirm these bookings that they made and also there were some disruptions in services in that people were trying to communicate and there was no communication telephone wise. Our members are basically very dissatisfied with the situation that we're currently facing because in fact they've lost business. We saw that just last week alone when we had three flights on separate days did not come in and that resulted in a lot of people not coming into the country. Because some packages are pre-booked, some properties had to refund monies back to these individuals. We've not put a dollar figure on it but we know the amount is significant. In fact just the lost in communication last week alone will have an effect even up to December to the Christmas holiday because people usually book up to three months in advance. So it will certainly affect travel coming into Belize until December."
Keith Swift,
When will the industry recover?
Andrew Godoy,
"We all know from history past with places like Jamaica that have gone through this it certainly took them some time. We can recover. I don't think it has to take that long if its solved and its done so quickly. We are at a point where I still its salvageable. We can recover but it will (take a while). Like I said we have up to December bookings that have been affected so its on us to try and educate people and give them the accurate information and continue promoting Belize as a safe place to come."
Both Godoy and Searle noted that the only good news in all this is that there wasn't much news coverage of last week's instability in the international press. Again another upside to all this is that we are in the low or off peak season. The Association will be meeting on Thursday and it is expected they will emerge with a strong position urging a speedy settlement.
