There's a New Hotel in the heart of Belize City, it's called Jovilee and it's been specially designed for Pandemic time check-ins.
That's right, this hotel is contactless, which means no human interaction is required. A dream come through for the loners and the Covid conscious.
Cherisse Halsall took a tour of the new accommodations on Friday and tonight she tells us why the contactless hotel won't break the bank.
Towering over the nondescript corner of Kelly and Nurse Seay street, the Jovi-Lee hotel may not possess a commanding view of a beach or waterfront, but it does offer a fresh take on post-pandemic accommodations. With a product pitch and price point that's confounds market trends and expectations proprietor Lee Mark Chang says it's designed to create anew normal for hotel accommodations in the city:
Lee Mark Chang, General Manager, Jovilee Hotel
"I wanted to create a Hotel where it can be full contactless so all you need to do is book online put in you information, and then the hotel is being booked and you swipe your credit card and the day before you check in you will get your keylock number and your room number so that you can just come in through the lobby go to the elevator and enter without having to see anybody, complete contactless it can be."
"We have 8 rooms and then you will be able to punch in your code, which we will give you the day prior to coming, so you can go into your room and that's it you don't need to meet anybody."
"We have a manager on site that if anything happens or you need to contact someone they are readily available."
"We have also gotten our Gold standard certificate so we should, very shortly, be on Airbnb and Travelocity so you can be there and book your rooms and then complete contactless, once you do that."
And what about room service? Well, it's right on brand, offering the myriad of menu choices from its next door neighbor and parent enterprise Chon Saan Palace.
Lee Mark Chang, General Manager, Jovilee Hotel
"We do have our menu in there so that you can order from over there and if they would pay with E-Kyash it's completely contactless also you call Chon Saan and do the E-Kyash and then we can just come and put it right in front of the room door, knock, the room door and then you can open the room door, pick up your food and complete contactless also."
Contactless but not too costly.
What's the price? More than the other model features, that may be the most
Lee Mark Chang, General Manager, Jovilee Hotel
"Right here it's 99 dollars plus the government taxes which comes up to roughly $108 dollars."
That's Belize dollars - well below market rates - and Chang hopes it will set a trend.
Lee Mark Chang, General Manager, Jovilee Hotel
"We started with a soft opening we don't want to be overwhelmed, this is a new business that we are venturing into so we wanted to make baby steps, on an average right now we wanted to do maybe two rooms a day, hopefully that number will increase with time."
According to rates advertised online, Jovilee's 99BZD rate is currently cheaper than comparable city hotels which run for 160 to 180 Belize per night.
Three COVID Deaths Over Weekend
Three new COVID deaths were reported over the weekend, and all of them were unvaccinated. Two were from the Belize District and one from Corozal.
There were 345 new cases reported, with 118 from the Belize District. Cayo had 72, Toledo had 55, Orange Walk had 49, Stann Creek had 27 and Corozal had 15 new cases. There are 44 new hospitalizations, with 24 being unvaccinated, 11 with one dose, and 9 with both doses.
12 people are in the ICU, 9 of them unvaccinated, 2 with one dose and only one with both doses. There were 321 new recoveries putting the active cases at 1,947.
Briceno On Blue Bond
Before the break we showed you the Prime Minister talking about his first presentation to the United Nation's General Assembly on Friday.
As viewers will remember, however, the big news coming out of New York last Friday was that his government was able to successfully convince the majority of Belize's bondholders to cash in the Superbond at a substantial discount to the nation.
The government will buy back those bonds at a discount, and it will issue what is known as a Blue Bond. The Washington-based Nature Conservancy has agreed to find the money for the government to buy out the bondholders and pay back the reduced principal at a lower interest rate over a longer period of time.
The holders of 84% of the current bonds have agreed to sell it back, which provides the government with what is known as "supermajority consent".
On Saturday, we asked the Prime Minister to discuss the coming end of the "Superbond", which became a favorite political football in Belize's local politics. Here's what he had to say:
Hon. John Briceno - Prime Minister
"It's certainly very exciting, and from the moment that we had the bondholder's committee sign-on, we were very excited and felt that we would be able to reach that 75% mark. But, it's nothing like when it happens because you're always wondering something might now come up. And then, to have a thing - [the] last count it was about 85% that had signed up. It shows that the bondholders have - they realize that 1, it a fairly good deal for them, but they also realize that they are going to be joining Belize in its conservation efforts because by cashing in their bond, it will now allow Belize to issue new bonds called the blue bonds. And, the interesting thing about the new bonds is that approximately one-third of those bonds will be paid in Belize dollars. So, it's going to be about 300 million dollars roughly, US dollars. 200 million US is going to be paid back to the bondholders, and then, 100 million US will be paid in Belize dollars over the years up to 2040, and by 2040, we're going to have a permanent conservation fund for marine conservation that will be valued at about 200 million dollars."
As you may recall, the Superbond was an amalgamation of Belize's expensive commercial debt under the Musa Government back in 2006, which amounted to 1 billion Belize dollars at the time. It was packaged off into a single lower interest bond offering.
So, with the end of the Superbond on the horizon, we asked the Prime Minister if his administration is simply righting a historic wrong committed by a past PUP Government. Here's what he had to say on that:
Hon. John Briceno - Prime Minister
"The debt relief is that immediately, our debt to GDP is going to go down by about 12%. So, 12 cents of every dollar is going to disappear or be written off. Secondly, it is going to help our government, our cash flow management, to be able to get to positive growth. We will be saving approximately 135 million dollars over the next 4 years. It basically means that we don't have to find 135 million dollars to be able to pay the bondholders. It does not mean that we have 135 million dollars. It just means that we do not have to be scrambling and trying to find that 135 million dollars to make the payments to the bondholders. So it's great cash flow relief, and it's starting to move us toward what we promised, that we're going to get to debt sustainability."
Reporter
"Now, sir, the more cynical residents of Belize would take the view that by finalizing this agreement, this PUP Administration is simply cleaning up a mess that a previous administration had created in the first place. How would you respond to that?"
Hon. John Briceno
"Absolutely not, that's nonsense, anybody [who] would want to take that on, or to make that argument because when we put together the Superbond, remember, there was a number of high-interest loans that were made during the PUP Government. We put all of them together. As opposed to being owing all over the place, we set it as 1 bond, brought down the interest rate, and the projections that we had is that we were going to have an economy that would grow. Unfortunately, we had a UDP government for 13 years and as opposed to having growth, we had negative growth."
Min of State For Finance Break Down Superbond
This morning, Chris Coye, the Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance, spoke via Zoom to the hosts of Sun-up on 7. He provided a few more details on how the new Blue Bonds will work:
Hon. Chris Coye - Minister of State, Ministry of Finance
"The Government of Belize owes over 4 billion dollars in debt. The Superbond represents over 1.1 billion Belize dollars in debt, out of that 4.1 billion dollars in debt. What we've done is reduce those 1.1 billion dollars in debt by roughly half a billion dollars."
"In a sense, if we look at it, each one of us, if you take 4 billion dollars, for example, and divide it by 400,000 as our population, each one of us pretty much owes - man, woman, and child - over 10 thousand dollars."
"So if you reduce it by 10 to 12%, on this one transaction, we've slashed off a thousand off what each one of us owes."
"Remember, there are essentially 2 different negotiations that are ongoing. 1 - and this is the one that's very public, the one with the Superbond, and what we've negotiated, and what we've agreed in terms of that discount, that 55 cents on the dollar that they're taking. But, we have to pay. We have to pay that 55 cents still, and where we're getting the money to pay that is through the Blue Bond arrangement that we're organizing through the Nature Conservancy, and their underwriter, Credit Suisse. So, that's what we have to still firm up, and we're in that process. Over the next few weeks, we have a lot of work to do to get completed."
"This is, probably by far, the largest such transaction in the world ever. I think prior to this, there was a transaction of around 20 million by Seychelles, and now, this is over 300 million. So, it dwarfs that kind of transaction. But yes, it puts Belize in the forefront as far as its innovativeness and creativity, to achieve debt reduction, while at the same time enhancing conservation, and as I said in this, marine conservation. On the conservation side, part of the Blue Bond, and the financing being secured through the Blue Bond is to pre-fund an endowment of a conservation trust fund for marine conservation. That pre-funding is a little over 23 million US dollars, but also, Government commits to roughly a little over 8 million dollars Belize per year to contribute into that trust fund, with the intent that by the end of this term, which is roughly 19 years, we will have around 200 million dollars in that trust fund, which will then fund marine conservation initiatives in perpetuity."
IN a press release sent out today, the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry said, quote, "our support for this innovative Blue Bond Financing strategy is premised on the structure of the new instrument, which, among other things, ultimately represents close to a 12% reduction in Belize's overall national debt, thereby, alleviating the strain on the country's foreign assets." End quote.
To Russia "Sin Visa"
Returning with the PM from New York City was Foreign Affairs Minister Eamon Courtenay.
The Belize Foreign Affairs Ministry told us that within the margins of the UN General Assembly, he and his counterpart from Russia, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov finalized an agreement for a visa waiver.
He told us more at the airport:
Hon. Eamon Courtenay - Foreign Affairs Minister
"That agreement is something that has been worked upon for a number of years, and we decided that we would move forward and conclude it. The expectation is that we will be able to get tourists from Russia, and allow them to come into Belize a lot easier, and vice-versa. Belizeans who want to go to Russia, both official diplomatic, and ordinary passport holders will be allowed in both countries to move visa-free. We find it exciting. It's a new market for Belize, and I think it is going to present us with an opportunity to grow the tourism sector in Belize. In addition to which, in our discussions with the Foreign Minister, he encouraged us to look into the possibilities of scholarships and other forms of collaborations between Belize and Russia."
Belize's Foreign Policy Strategy
Courtenay also discussed other foreign policy moves made during this trip - in what he said was a hectic schedule of meetings:
Hon. Eamon Courtenay - Foreign Affairs Minister
"I think first of all, very recently, CARICOM had a summit with the African Union, and one of the things that we did on the trip was to establish diplomatic relations with Sierra Leon, which were surprised to find out that we did not have to those relations. We also an agreement, a meeting with the Prime Minister, myself, and the team, when we met with the Prime Minister of Kosovo, and we agreed to cooperate with them, and to recognize them as a state. In addition to that, we had a number of other bilateral meetings. We had meetings along with SICA. We had meetings with the Nordic countries. We had a bilateral with Russia, and then, we joined SICA and Russia, and it was extremely hectic, in addition to other bilateral [meetings], and joining the Prime Minister with some of his meetings."
And while those meeting are kind of like diplomatic housekeeping, Belize's diplomatic standing needs specialised attention - because of the Guatemalan claim to our territory.
Courtenay discussed the need for as many alliances as possible:
Hon. Eamon Courtenay - Foreign Affairs Minister
"Belize is a small country on the international scene, and we need friends. The Belize/Guatemala dispute is still not resolved. It is going to be resolved in a few years by the ICJ, but in the meantime, our best defense is friendship with friendly countries. We are members of a number of organizations: CARICOM, SICA, the Commonwealth, United Nations, and what it does is builds up a wall that we use whenever there are issues between us and Guatemala, us and other countries. There are times when other countries and we have difficulties, and so, we need to build as many alliances as possible. We think there are new opportunities in Africa. Prime Minister has indicated he wants to make some in-roads into the Middle East to the Gulf States, and so, we're looking at that and trying to project for that. And again, to attract investment, to attract tourism. The Russians, we understand, are making some significant investments in Guatemala. We would want to encourage them to look at Belize. So, a part of our diplomacy is trying to attract investment, trying to create jobs, and trying to move the country forward for Belizeans."
And that search for alliances continues - as quickly as he concluded one official trip, Prime Minister John Briceno is already on another.
He departed the country today as the head of the delegation on what is described as a state visit to Mexico City. A release says he will hold discussions on a partial scope trade agreement with Mexico. Other discussions will focus on areas of education, infrastructure, agriculture, arts, and culture.
The Prime Minister is expected to return to Belize on October 2nd. Until then, Francis Fonseca, the Minister of Education, Culture, Science, and Technology, will act as Prime Minister.
City Mayor Laments Dwayne's Death
Earlier today when we stopped by the home of Dwayne Gabourel's mother, the Mayor of Belize City was also paying her a visit. Like the police minister, Bernard Wagner also felt compelled to personally share his condolences with the grieving family. He told us that the senseless murders need to end, but that it starts with the parents of the murderers.
Iris Opens For New Way of Paying Tax
The Government's push to roll out e-governance as a means of improving the ease of doing business with the public sector led to another major milestone today.
If you have been standing in lines to file your income tax or business tax, in a few more weeks, you will no longer need to do that. You'll soon be able to do it through a new online platform which belongs to the Belize Tax Service Department.
It's called IRIS, and it was launched officially today at the Biltmore Plaza Hotel. Our news team attended and Daniel Ortiz has that story:
