More Belizeans are choosing to go to Guatemala over the Easter break, and fewer are choosing to go to Mexico. Arrivals at Benque Viejo del Carmen on the Guatemala border increased 28.4 percent to 7,050. Meanwhile, crossings at Corozal on the Mexico border fell 23.7 percent to 8,642. The figures suggest a shift in regional travel across land borders during the Easter holiday. Could cartel influence in Mexico be impacting these figures? We asked the Director of Immigration via Zoom and this is what he said:
Lawrence Thompson, Director - BMIS
"What we've seen in the data is that there has been an increase in travel for Belizeans through our western border, where the data has demonstrated that this year, Easter, we had a total of 7,050 Belizeans coming through our port at the western border in comparison to 2025, where we saw 5,400 Belizeans passing through that port of entry."
"And at the other end of our other major border, which is the northern border, we saw where there was a decrease in Belizean travel. Wherein this year in 2026, there was 8,600 travelers, Belizean travelers, coming to that port in comparison to 2025, where we had 11,300 coming through that port."
"So we see a decrease of 33% at the northern border and an increase of 28% of arrival at the western border. So what that demonstrates then is that the western border was more, was busier with Belizean travelers in comparison to last year."
"And as it relates to also the northern border. I would like to think that the Belizeans recognize that we have some wonderful beaches and we have some very good tourist locations and that they have now recognized that Belize is a beautiful place to visit during Easter."
"But recognizing also that our northern neighborhood, some challenges that we have all seen on TV and on the media, while I cannot say decisively that Belizeans choose not to go because of that, I would suspect that there may have been some consideration by our Belizeans when they make their travel plans."
"And one of those consideration may have been the challenges that are happening in Mexico at the moment. But I cannot be certain for sure that that was what caused that decrease."
Total easter arrivals increased by 5.5 percent with the PGIA recording a 37 percent increase - which signals stronger tourism inflows and growing reliance on air travel.
And was the department sufficiently staffed to handle the increase in arrivals? That's what we asked:
Reporter
"Was the immigration department equipped to deal with the numbers that they were dealing with at the western border over the weekend? Because we know that I would also like you to comment on this, but last week there was a sick quote, you know, person didn't show up to work."
"And so were you guys equipped over the weekend to deal with the numbers, the increase in numbers at that?"
Lawrence Thompson, Director - BMIS
"Yes, the border was fully manned. We had officers from all over the country who reported to work there to enhance or to support the border staff at the border."
"As you all would have known, that the some officers that were calling sick at that port. And so what we had did in order to mitigate any risk of not having the border fully functional, we got offices from different sections of the department, different ports all the way from Punta Border in one instance to offer support and to aid the border to ensure that travel is not impeded in any way."
"We also recognized that the Easter weekend was upon us and so even more so we operationalized other offices into the Benke border operations for us to be able to have a smooth flow of passengers through that port."
"There was no interruption of our services at the port of entry. Everything was all boots remind and offices were there ready to serve the public."
