The battle lines were drawn on the news last night, FECTAB versus Chukka- slash - Bakabush tours, a big, monied, connected tourism interest versus the small man and woman. Or at least that's the story being put out there by FECTAB; though, on closer inspection the conflict is a lot more nuanced than that.
But whatever the difference, the man who has to mediate it is the CEO in the Ministry of Tourism, Mike Singh. And according to FECTAB, he can't mediate because he's decidedly on the side Chukka and Bakabush.
At yesterday's FECTAB meeting, president Tom Greenwood demanded that Singh retract the comments he made in an interview last week. So will he? We gave him that chance in an interview today.
For context, we begin with Greenwood's demand:...
Tom Greenwood, President FECTAB
"Can I safely describe this as pure unadulterated rubbish? Do I have your support on that? Do I have and does the table have your support in demanding here and now that Mr. Michael Singh apologize to the tour guides and tour operators of this country for this abomination?"
Jules Vasquez
"Will you retract and apologize as has been demanded by FECTAB?"
Michael Singh, CEO - Ministry of Tourism
"Jules, rather than retract I'd like to clarify because somehow I feel that statements I made might have been taken out of context. The message I wanted to get across is that we felt that the way the government can help is to assist our operators to become more competitive. By no means did I say that our operators do not qualify. I actually think we have some of the best guides in Belize, in the world and I have been to many places trying different tourism products and I am extremely impressed with the quality that our guides go through. Now those guides typically form a part of an enterprise which is run as a business and I don't think that we always take the approach to make our business competitive. We do not - for instance, as an example - I go to all the cruise conferences and it's very rare that I see Belizean producers or Belizean operators that are marketing themselves to the cruise lines. It's hard for me to fault Carnival Cruise Lines for making a choice based on what they feel is the best choice for them unless we are able to look at them and say look there is no difference between any of these operations. Everybody has met a certain standard that we have set. Now, we have failed because we have not set standard."
Jules Vasquez
"Is the partnership between Bakabush and Chukka good or bad for the cruise tourism industry in Belize?"
Michael Singh, CEO - Ministry of Tourism
"I think it signals a problem Jules, and I think it signals a problem that for the cruise lines to select or for one of the major cruise lines, which is Carnival, which is the only line calling in the summer, which is part of the reason why the ire is up right now. This is the slowest season anybody will ever be in and everybody is hungry. Hungry belly is what you are hearing. I think it signals a problem that our operators - and perhaps with our assistance - need to be able to raise their game so that there is no excuse for choosing one particular entity that may have foreign interests. I think the fatality that happened in the cave last year was really the straw that broke the camel's back and I think we reacted as a government very well when NICH went through all the upgrading. But I don't believe that our operators may have reacted as quickly as they could have. That is a very expensive lesson, the liability that anybody can face because of a fatality can put those companies out of business and cost the cruise lines substantial monies and can cost Belize very much in terms of our reputation. That issue has to be dealt with forthwith and it has to be dealt with in a PR-managed kind of way. And I think the government, I think we reacted; I am not sure the private sector reacted the way they should have. We worked very closely with the cruise lines, understood what the standards and requirements are and make sure we meet them. Otherwise, NICH would not have had that tour being sold by Carnival. When that tour was taken off the menu the independents did very well because there was no competition on board the ships. Now that Carnival has put that tour on board the independents perhaps now have to work a little bit harder because they do have to go out and market. As the season comes in most everybody in the industry has a room to be employed. Today everybody is hungry, you have 2 ships coming in a week compared to 10 during the high season, that's a significant difference. I totally agree that there is a issue of want and I think it's the issue of want is what you are hearing more than the issue of any long term problem."
Jules Vasquez
"But certainly going forward it is not in the industry's interest to have one provider who can in a monopolistic fashion dictate the terms of engagement with these cruise lines."
Michael Singh, CEO - Ministry of Tourism
"I fully agree and I think it's against competition and I think it is important that there is a competitive environment where there is sufficient operators that are able to stand against each other so that they can keep that quality up."
Isani Cayetano, Reporter
"As the CEO in the ministry where do you see a solution for all of this, what becomes of it?"
Michael Singh, CEO - Ministry of Tourism
"Well the only solution is dialogue and we this afternoon invited all parties to attend a meeting at 3:30 at the BTB. We've gotten confirmation from several including the people from the Fort Street Tourism Village, we gotten confirmation from Bakabush Tours and Chukka their partner, we've gotten confirmation from I believe the taxi association but FECTAB has indicated to us that they are not sure they will attend which surprises me because it seems that they are calling for discussion and dialogue but yet they are not willing to sit at the table when we have spread the table and offered to become the mediator in this issue. I think our role is mediator, I don't think there is anything that we can do to compel the cruise line to make a choice and the direction."
A few notes. Singh did confirm that indeed Bakabush does not pay the NICH user fee at Caves Branch, but that is because it does not use the NICH facility - it uses those belonging to Jaguar Paw.
But they will be paying soon - and that will be for the usage of the cave itself. That's because government has just finalized a statutory instrument properly declaring the site an archeological park, meaning that all users of the cave will have to pay the same ten dollars. But, Singh says those independent operators who presently use and pay for the NICH facilities will not have to pay an additional cave usage fee.
But that's not the end of the story on fees. The Tourism board today announced that it is fast tracking legislation which mandates that all tour operators pay park fees at important cruise tourism sites.
The BTB is also working to establish what's called a tourism friendly zone in the immediate vicinity of the Fort Street Tourism village.
