And Floralia isn't their only concern - the BBA is also faced with the threat of foreign buses being allowed into the country. The operations manager of Premier Charters, which mostly transports tourists, says if Belize buses aren't allowed past Chetumal, Mexico, then they shouldn't be able to come in further than Corozal. Here's what he explained at the press conference today.
Steve Flowers, Operations Manager, Premier Charters
"They are trying to induce back with Mexican and Guatemalan Buses coming through Belize. We are strictly saying no to that, and the reason we are is because the market is already too much operators. Not because it is particularly Guatemalans, or Mexicans, but I believe and we stand, the Premier Charters and Tour groups believe that if we are not allowed to go across the Mexican side. They had recently drafted up that we're only allowed up to 12.5 kilometers into Chetumal, which is basically the Chetumal, Quintana Roo area which is a small area. So, we cannot conduct business to Cancun and so forth. All of us are Belizeans here, we like to take our trips to Cancun, so what we are saying is that they don't allow us to go that direction which we at Premier Charters and Tours have our Mexican counterparts that we work with, so we still find a way to take them all the way through to Cancun which are Belizean travelers. We don't interfere with the Mexicans in a sense, we work with them, so, what we're basically saying is that they allow us to go to a certain area into Chetumal, Quintana Roo area. We don't mind they come to Corozal, the same that they are offering us, we'd like to offer them back. We don't see the need for them to come from border to border while we still exist here in Belize."
We'll keep following the story.
