And perhaps those most concerned about this latest COVID wave are the tourism stakeholders - they were the ones hit the hardest during the first wave and many of them wouldn't survive another round of regulations and lockdowns.
And yesterday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention added 5 new destinations to its high risk category for travelers - and Belize is one of them, along with the Bahamas, Monsterrat, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. With this, Belize moves from level 2 to level 3.
Undaunted, Minister Anthony Mahler said that no matter what happens, the tourism sector will always bounce back.
Hon. Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism
"Airlift into Belize and it wasn't guaranteed that all the flights and all the routes that we had and all the airlines that we were working with before Covid would have come back. We had to put in a tremendous amount of work to get those flights back and we still have some more work to do to get like Air Canada back and other flights."
Reporter
"If I could have you expand a little bit on the question of the partners, obviously today you are here to share what the Ministry of Tourism and the Belize Tourism Board have been working on to get Belize out there all over. What are the expectation from the partners, the stakeholders to work along with what we have to offer?"
Hon. Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism
"Well, both BTIA and BHA sit on the board of directors for the Belize Tourism Board, so they have full access to what we are doing at the Belize Tourism Board and I have quarterly meetings with the organizations and we will continue to do so having a continuous dialogue and a true partnership with the industry is important for us as we move along. We can't have a ministry, we ant have any department from the Ministry of Tourism and Diaspora Relations be disconnected from the people who have invested and work hard to help us build the most important industry for Belize."
Reporter
"And then to some of what you shared in your presentation, your opening remarks this morning about a return to full cruise capacity I think it was by the end of this year. Where are we and how do we get there?"
Hon. Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism
"We are trending towards maybe 90%. The global cruise numbers will be trending towards 100%. It is important for us to truly get a docking facility and we are working with the stakeholders. The cruise lines have said to us that because of the sizes of the ships that are being built."
