Another regulation that Krohn opposes is the no vax, no dining in rule that was introduced in the latest SI. Basically, if you're not fully vaccinated, you can't eat inside a restaurant. This has a major effect on the tourism industry since you don't need to be vaccinated to enter the country. So for those tourists who have a negative test, while they can visit different destinations, they can't sit down and enjoy a meal. Krohn says it's a contradiction and one he hopes the government will remedy.
Stewart Krohn, President, BTIA
"Obviously if you're inviting tourists to come into the country and enjoy the great attractions of Belize and you're telling them you can come to Belize either with a vaccination or with a negative test but you don't have to be vaccinated, if you invite them in like that and then you turn around and tell them oh you can come in but you can't eat at a restaurant, that doesn't really make sense, I just think that sometimes regulations like that are not thought through by the people who make up those rules so obviously the reaction in the industry particularly from independent restaurants and restaurants in hotels is that this just doesn't make sense and through this medium I would certainly like to appeal to the Ministry of Health to the government to Cabinet, let's alter this particular regulation to make it consistent with what we're telling people at the airport. The regulation as it exists is not tremendously effective in stopping COVID and I think we would be a lot better off if that regulation could be relaxed and abolished shortly."
