As the Minister noted, Belize is helping with the marketing. It's part of a trend in the airline business of destinations having to pay to play. We asked about it:
Jules Vasquez:
"Right now, tickets are on, one way tickets are on sale to Fort Lauderdale for $85 US, but they can't offer promotionally a sufficiently affordable, round trip promotional rate because it's not cheap for them to fly into Belize, it's inconsistent with their model."
Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism & Diaspora Relations
"And that's why we try to give a lot of incentives in terms of the landing fees and all of that here in Belize. So we work closely with the management group at the airport."
"And so they provide some concessions as well. But we've also put some money on the table in terms of marketing and other things for these flights to come in."
"Especially after COVID, it hasn't been cheap. We've done marketing and co-marketing with airlines for decades and that continues to be our model, but it has become a lot more expensive to do."
Jules Vasquez:
"Yeah, you have pay millions for them to come, but let us be real.We are paying people to comeWe are incentivizing carriers to fly to our destination?"
Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism & Diaspora Relations
"Some, yeah."
Jules Vasquez:
"Is it a worrying precedent for you because then once you do it to one set, that becomes the universal expectation and it increases with these destinations because you're talking Europe. You're gonna have to put $10 million on the table."
Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism & Diaspora Relations
"Not so much, man. Maybe eight."
