FCCA Gives Thumbs Up to Tourism Zone
FCCA Gives Thumbs Up to Tourism Zone
By Shane D. Williams
“It was a mess! It was noisy, stressful and an embarrassment for our country.” That is what one tour operator had to say about the activities outside the Fort Street Tourism Village before the new policies were implemented. Another said, “We were hunters and the tourists were our prey. The quickest and most aggressive hunter won.” That is the idea that governed the Fort Street area. It was an idea embraced by all.
Tour agents, taxi drivers, hair braiders all learnt how to be predators. That sometimes meant injuring the image of their competitors - “Don’t go with him sir. He is a thief.” For them it was a way of life but to most tourists it was an unwelcoming and petrifying experience. The first inhabitants of this country they met were an uncivilized bunch. It turned away more than half of the cruise passengers that came ashore and led to horrible reviews about destination Belize. That image had to change.
That is why on Thursday, October 21, the Belize Tourism Board presented the initial phase of their game changing Action Plan 2010-2012. Seleni Matus, Director of BTB, unveiled a plan that focused on marketing and industry relations, revenue collection and destination planning. There were several measures included in the area of destination planning. One immediate act was to pay more attention to Belize City.
At that time Matus exclaimed that Belize City is the start off point for most tourists; however, its significance has been underplayed. The neglect of the city by the Board over the past decade has given the industry an ugly sore. Jim Scott, President of the Belize Tourism Industry Association, explained that Belize as a tourist destination is ranked one of the highest, if not the highest, in the Caribbean among guests who book tours prior to getting off the ship.
These guests are taken directly to their buses and then on their tour. However, we are ranked almost lowest among tourists who leave the ship and stay around the city. Those are the tourists that are rushed by tour operators, taxi men and other service providers at Fort Street. To get the situation under control, the area was designated as a tourism zone on December 8.
The Tourism Zone is an idea that was derived from a meeting with cruise industry shareholders about an organizational restructuring process. The immediate purpose of the zone is to establish order. It includes a more organized traffic-flow system to reduce congestion. The one-way traffic flow is enforced from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Booths have been established for the organized flow of guests seeking tours from independent and small operators.
A new rotation system was implemented that will ensure a more orderly presentation of services from tour guides and tour operators. 15 law enforcement personnel and special constables were directed to patrol the Fort George Tourism Zone. An identification system and uniform program has been established for all key service providers working in the zone; those include tour guides and operators, taxi personnel, vendors, hair braiders, etc.
On Tuesday, January 11, executives of the Florida Caribbean Cruiseline Association (FCCA) visited Belize and took a tour of the Fort Street Tourism Zone. At the end of the tour Michelle Page, President of FCCA, stopped, observed the behavior of the taxi operators for a while and said, “This is a hundred percent- a thousand percent better.”
Gordon Buck of Carnival and Federico Gonzalez Denton of Royal Caribbean Cruise were the other two executives on the tour. They shared Page’s sentiments. Buck said that when he came to Belize six months ago to “observe the product” it was much different. He said, “there’s not words enough how favorably impressed I have been today with the enhancements done in the Tourism Zone. It is like night and day. It’s wonderful! It’s all strides in the right direction.”
