For the past 2 years BTB has been working towards implementing a National Tourism Security Strategy. And today they hosted a National Tourism Security Summit to discuss concrete ways to enhance safety within the sector by next year. Jomarie Lanza stopped by and here's her story:
In August the Belize Tourism Board launched its National Tourism Security Strategy by forming a Tourism Security Task Force, in partnership with The Belize Police Department, the Belize Defence Force and the Belize Coast guard. BTB is serving as the regulator and today's event is focused on discussing and sharing ideas on what the tourism landscape would look like for 2026. Security Specialist Herman Blease told us more about what are some of the security issues and concerns they are dealing with within the sector.
Herman Blease, Security Specialist, BTB
"Many times people who are violating our regulations we don't go out and look for them many times people who see these violations they call us and tell us and that helps us to strategize and then we get the different agencies to assist us in addressing or mitigating those threats and so we have a lot of issues in terms of illegal tour guiding, illegal tour operations, NICH has problems with people going to the sites and conducting illegal tours, all of those things combined are a threat or is a threat to the tourism industry and so together as you see in this room it is coming together and addressing the problems that we have in the industry. As you heard our CEO just said we are at about 50% of GDP and we only need one incident to move from what we call a highs season to a slow season because if we are in a high season and we have an incident that incident is so bad it hurts the industry and we then go straight into a slow season."
A sudden slowdown and a rash of cancellations - like what happened in 2019 when American Dr Gary Swank was shot and killed while on a fly fishing tour - can ripple across the entire economy. CEO for the Ministry of Tourism agrees that all it takes is one adverse incident:
Nicole Usher, CEO, Ministry of Tourism
"Well safety and security is integral to tourism development and growth for Belize and I think we say it over and over that the tourism industry contributes to almost half of GDP for Belize and every time there is a shift or a dip we feel it across the economy so tourism safety and security really does impact on a traveler's decision and whether or not they choose a destination so for them to feel that they can come to Belize and enjoy everything that we have to offer all of our natural and cultural assets they also have to feel safe."
And so far the partnership between BTB and the security forces has proved to be beneficial. The BTB has helped the BDF acquire a vehicle to conduct more patrols, and for the police they have acquired a new skill and approach to policing.
Lt. Col Jermaine Burns, Future Plans & Policy Officer, BDF
"I was working out of the battalion at the time in the West and there were some incidents that were security related low-key incidents that came to bear in the mountain pine ridge area specifically relating to tourists and because that was my area of responsibility for the Battalion at the time we engaged with the tourism security specialist at BTB to ask how they can help us enhance their effect their because you would imagine that we had some transportation issues back then covering that entire area. It is one of our biggest operational area and so they stepped up and we formed the security tourism task force and we started discussing different strategies of improving security in that specific area."
Bart Jones, Deputy Commissioner
"The police role in this is a critical one to be an important partner in the tourism industry. We recognize that tourism security the tourism industry plays a very important role in respect to our economy and we recognize as well from the police department that little effects or little incidents can trigger or certainly impact that industry so we from the police department we look at it that tourism security is not just the physical security of the tourist but also how police interact with tour guides and what measures we have in place to ensure that the busses are having the necessary amount of guides they should have and looking at how we interact with persons at our checkpoints so we recognize that it is not just the physical security but overall security of the industry."
Representatives from international embassies also provided guidelines for managing emergencies involving their citizens.
