But the sargassum blight has been around long enough and is sufficiently widespread that experts say it is no longer a determining factor for travelers.
But, airlift is an issue. And since the start of the year, Belize has lost the service of two budget carriers: Spirit Air folded in March and Jet Blue cancelled its JFK flight to Belize in May.
But now, the BTB is in talks with Bermuda Air to fly out of Boston, Raleigh, Fort Lauderdale, St Petersburg, and Orlando Sanford International Airport into Belize. Mahler said that while they may be losing some, they're still adding others.
Anthony Mahler - Minister of Tourism, Youth & Sports
"I don't really want to say much about that one. We have been in talks with Bermuda Air for some time now. Actually, the original discussion was about to flag the plane Belize air or whatever we want it to be named. Right. And we've been talking about multiple destinations from the United States, Guatemala and maybe one more. But I think they announced earlier than we had anticipated. We wanted some more time to look at their proposal and what they're asking, but they're very, very much interested in working with Belize. Belize fits, They're a premium carrier. And Belize fits their model. And so, I'm excited to see where it ends up. But we have quite a ways to go in terms of really, really finalizing that arrangement."
Courtney Menzies
"Are you concerned that some airlines are sort of tightening their budget, having less flights? And then we saw what happened with Spirit Airlines. You know, what happened with JetBlue. I think American Airlines are doing less domestic flights that that might eventually translate to less planes coming to Belize."
Anthony Mahler - Minister of Tourism, Youth & Sports
"Well, I mean, these are trying times for the entire industry. I expect to see more spirit airlines, what happened to them occur. I've seen some already in the Caribbean. But we continue to do our work. So you lose some and you gain some. So I believe another airline will increase its capacity to Belize. We're talking to current airlines that we have to expand out of new cities. I can't say these things publicly before it's an announced but we have at least 4 or 5 new routes that we're talking about separate from the Bermuda, air routes that we're discussing."
Reporter
"So are there any decreases in tourist arrivals as a result of…?"
Anthony Mahler - Minister of Tourism, Youth & Sports
"no, no. A year to date we're I would say a few thousand up compared to 2025."
