And with the tourism high season kicking off yesterday, there is the concern that more tourists will equal higher COVID numbers - and possibly the introduction of new strains of the virus.
But, the group think of the Belize Tourism Industry Association reasons that there's a higher chance of getting the virus from your corner grocery than from a tourist. And that the real problem is convincing tourists to come here despite our high COVID numbers.
Stewart Krohn, President, BTIA
"Let us understand something. Our COVID problem is, and it is a big problem, that problem is not being caused or exacerbated by the fact that tourists are coming in. Remember that every visitor that comes in is either vexed or has just recently tested negative. OK, so if you looked at the odds, take all the people coming in and then see how many may have come in with COVID. It's infinitesimally small. So that is the problem with COVID is not the tourists bringing it in. The bigger problem with COVID and tourism is that people coming in. their danger is greater for them to contract COVID while they're here in Belize. We've got to convince people because they see on the CDC website, they see on the U.S. embassy website that the admonition of those websites is do not come to Belize because COVID is so rampant. So that's the battle we're fighting. It's not the battle about people bringing in COVID. The only thing that could really sink Belizean tourism and by extension, sink the Belizean economy is if COVID were to get so out of control in Belize that our medical system, our health care system, actually breaks down because nobody wants to come to a country where the health system is overwhelmed and cannot cope with even the simplest illness, let alone COVID. That's why it's so important. I'm sorry to get on my soapbox again but we've got to get vaccinations up."
