And while police have moved with resolute determination to make arrests in the Hill double murder, as we noted, progress has not been made that quickly for three other murders that happened in Cayo last week. And indeed, because the Hills were American-Belizeans, the killings attracted the attention of the entire tourism sector. But when tourism is the product, particularly in the tourist-friendly Cayo District the Xis double murder, or the Arenal holdup a week earlier can also attract adverse attention and drive away tourists. That’s why the police and the ministry of tourism held a meeting with industry stakeholders in Cayo today. In Belize City, the Tourism Board has also been monitoring the situation and Laura Esquivel the director of product development told us what are their concerns going forward.
Laura Esquivel,
“Well we have been in contact with our Tourism Police Unit and we have been speaking with them about what’s going on. Also at the impetus of our CEO in the Ministry of Tourism along with the CEO in the Ministry of National Security, a meeting has been set up for today in the Cayo District, in San Ignacio where we will have the CEOs of both Ministries as well as law enforcement, as well as representation from the Belize Tourism Board and in addition to that we have invited all the stakeholders in the tourism industry to attend this meeting so that we can all come together and come up with viable solutions and put together a plan.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
While investigations are suggesting that the four killings, the double homicide with the father and the son and the recent one with the Hills are not directly linked to tourism that does not mean we shouldn’t become complacent.
Laura Esquivel,
“Right well even though it is not a direct link to tourism we do take crime and security very seriously when it comes to tourism we know that people who are investigating trying to come to Belize or anywhere else in the world will look at things like crime and security and if it gets too bad it will become a deterrent for future tourists to come to Belize and this is why the BTB takes it very seriously and that is why we are lending our support to the initiative. Not only are we having a meeting in Cayo but there is another meeting being planned in San Pedro later on too.”
The BTIA declined comment until after today’s meeting.
