Over the years, FECTAB, the Federation of Cruise Tourism Associations of Belize, has become known for its fiery press conference, usually aimed at the Belize Tourism Board. They are quick to point out what they think are injustices being visited upon local tour operators. Today, the President, David Almendarez, and the President Emeritus, Tom Greenwood, called a press conference to complain bitterly against the BTB.
They say that the BTB is attempting to hold tour guides hostage by forcing them to take training courses in order to qualify for the renewal of their tour guide license. They tell us that the price of these licenses is $350, which is already hard to come by in these difficult times. They're alleging even further that the requirement for taking these training courses was given to them with very little notice.
Here's more on the topic from President Almendarez, who today hosted an extended press conference:
David Almendarez - President, FECTAB
"We have no problem with continuous learning, as I mentioned before. I think that in the press conference, you probably missed passing half of it because half of it referred to training. And as I mentioned, we have no problem with training. We have no problem enhancing training. We have a problem with the way that it's being done. You tell me two months before I'm to renew my tour guide licenses when I don't have bookings in September, or October, that if I do not do this by then, you'll take away bread out of my mouth. You, how give me no bread, will tell me thou shalt not work if you don't go and take a training? Any training, I think, if you were legitimate and [you] come with a clean heart, you would have consulted with the leaders in the industry and the veterans in the industry to find out what we need today. I just told you what we need. We don't need any introduction to the tourism industry, an introduction to the tourism industry; after 20 years of owning my own business, I, a tour guide, will take an introduction to the tourism industry? Teach me how to compete on the web. Teach me like that. Come in and consult, and let us do good training. Don't hurry and come, good trainers. I want to know who is training me, what their qualifications are, and what they teach me. Don't give me any blind thing that I have to reach out and hurry. Do you know why they do it? [It's] because it's a hustle. Do you know why it's a hustle? It's because they're doing 3 months before you know that you need to renew your tour guide licenses when you know you need it to eat. They're creating a frenzy, a scramble. So, the [last] week you're going to call BTB, please give me a number for a trainer today. That's what they want; then we pay because of fear. Those days are done. The correct way was that they know us. They know all the presidents. They could have sat down and said; we want to do a — we want to upgrade the industry, guys. This, this, and this is where we want to go. Let us charter a syllabus forward. But to tell us 2 and a half months before you know you'll renew your tour guide license, thou shall not. That's ill faith, bad judgment, [and] bad taste."
After hearing the President of FECTAB In a statement today, the Belize Tourism Board said quote, "The…(BTB) advises current tour guides that will be seeking renewal of their license in July 2022, that you will not be affected due to non-completion of the professional core tour guide training module.However, as stated in the previous Notice to All Tour Guides, issued on May 11th, 2022, the Belize Tourism Board, in an effort to make this training module more accessible to tour guides, will be arranging courses in 2022 for those tour guides that have yet not completed this module. As a result, we encourage all interested current tour guides to take advantage of these courses when made available. All new and incoming tour guides are required to complete both the general and professional core modules in order to be eligible for a tour guide license."
