And the minister is hoping that the 54 million dollar bond floated by the BTB will help to keep those numbers up. There hasn't been much said about the bond, so yesterday we asked Mahler what their plans for the money are. He explained that it would include attracting international carriers and improving infrastructure.
Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism
"We haven't started, actually a lot of it will go into marketing, especially to attract a European carrier, it takes a lot of money to go in there. Also, we're working on a Mexican carrier and some of it will go into training and so we're creating a training academy with the Florida international university. And then some, the bulk of it will go into infrastructure. If you look throughout the country, you will see the infrastructure is not up to par to the natural assets that we have, so we need to improve light, we need to improve water, we need to improve waste management, we need to have marinas whereby people can dock their boats internationally and locally. We're looking at a rehabilitation center in Gales Point with Clear Water Aquarium, all of these projects will come online, we have a committee that will look at the projects. We were just talking to destinations and the local governments to see what we can collaborate on and then we'll start rolling out the project so within the next couple of weeks, those should start."
Reporter:
"So the bond, when will you begin to draw down from that?"
Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism
"I believe in the next month or so."
What's Different For This Year's BIMFF?
And Mahler is also hoping that the Belize International Music and Food Fest will draw in the crowds and the cash. Last year the festival was held in San Pedro, and this time it will be in Belize City - with headliners like Morgan Heritage, Spice, and Busy Signal.
And yesterday we asked the minister what they've done differently this time around.
Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism
"I think the whole process that we went through. Remember last year, we had a short period to get it done. I truly believe in it, I spoke to the Minister of Tourism from St Lucia and they have a Jazz Festival for many years and he said that festival brings in somewhere around five to ten thousand people just to the island for that and so we want to get there, they've been around for a long time. But we started with the programs throughout the country, finding Belizean artists who can hold their own on the stage with foreign artists, and that's what we want to do, create an incubator for our local artists to take it to the next level and that's why we're investing in the music studios. So we've done one in Belize City and we've done one in Orange Walk and we have San Ignacio and Dangriga left for us to do two more and we will continue to invest the music festival for it to go totally international. I believe in a few years it will get there, I already hear a lot of people wanting to come home, especially during that period to see the line up."
Tracing The Value Of Intangible Heritage
And finally tonight, you've heard of tangible cultural heritage but what about intangible heritage?
Those are the practices, expressions, knowledge and skills that communities recognize as part of their culture.
According to UNESCO, such practices can be put in jeopardy in the eye of natural disasters like hurricanes and even once in 3-generation events like a global pandemic.
And, that fragility is the subject of a NICH-hosted workshop this week which serves to safeguard intangible cultural practices whatever comes. We attended the opening ceremony of that workshop this morning and here's what we found out.
The workshop culminates in a field trip to Sarteneja on Thursday where participants will engage in such cultural practices as fishing, boat building, and other forms of artistic expression.
