1/29: Belize decides on new cruise ship policy today: read the full story on Western Belize Happenings
“The policy is: They are welcome to come to Belize, but only on SOVEREIGN BELIZE terms. They are temporary visitors and we will as a policy as a nation, not accept any bullying.”
1/28: Belize is still at the negotiating table with Carnival. The main issue on the table is the amount of money that the ferry boats who transport the cruise ship passengers to the mainland charge per head. Carnival wants it down to $5/head and the government says that isn’t viable. The government maintains that they are working on behalf of the local tender operators but there has been backlash from the community for many reasons. The bottom line for the tourism industry right now is that Belizeans are losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in the form of lost visitor expenditures. Read the January 27th updated story on Channel 5 Belize here.
*Friday, January 28th the Federation of Cruise Tourism Association of Belize (FECTAB) has scheduled a press conference about what it says is the mishandling of the tender situation with Carnival/Rick O’Shea that is costing all Belizeans and to issue a final warning to the B.T.B.
Reported by Channel 5 News Belize January 19th:
Carnival intends to cancel stops in Belize on Thursday
There’s another development in the two week old tendering dispute. There’s word that Carnival intends to cancel stops in Belize on Thursday and that Royal Caribbean along with Norwegian Cruise Lines are bound to follow suit. As it stands tonight, an agreement on the price to transport tourists from the cruise ships to the Fort Street pier has not been worked out. Local tenders have put their price at seven dollars per head, but Carnival and Royal Caribbean are only willing to pay five dollars per tourist. The deadlock has prompted negotiations between Martha Williams from EuroCaribe as the go-between for the local tenders and the cruise lines. Williams already held the tendering contract with Carnival, but all that was up in the air when Carnival announced that it would be changing its tendering policy. That’s how it stands now, but we’ll never know what tomorrow will bring in the ever changing dispute.
Original Link: Channel 5 News
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