Belize like the rest of the Mundo Maya world is bracing itself for an onslaught of visitors for the year 2012, that could see a record breaking number of visitor arrivals.
The event that's expected to trigger a surge in the number of tourist arrivals to the area is hyped as no less than "the 2012 Apocalypse."
That refers to the date, December, 21st, 2012, known as the last day on the Mayan calendar.
In Belize, a National Maya 2012 committee has been formed to take advantage of all the publicity being generated around the World, and the anticipated economic boom countries with rich Maya civilizations can expect.
Already, Belize has been listed as one of the top destinations for 2012, according to the television Travel Channel, and the country is set to launch its own Calendar of events celebrating not the end of the World, but as Shari Williams, Communications Director for NICH says, the beginning of a new era.
Shari Williams, Communications Director, NICH
"Definitely the Mundo Maya World is the place to be for 2012. We've had a lot of international calls asking about what's happening. So we started pretty early on last year in terms of putting a committee together and looking at how we can promote Belize as the place to be. Every country in this particular region is marketing them self as the place to be, but we believe is the heart land of the Maya."
"This year what we did, we put together a committee called 2012 committee and so they have been looking at one major activity for every month. So of these activities are activities that are already on going and some activities are new and are just being introduced to the celebrations for 2012. One of the biggest activities will be of course the solstice and equinox. There are four times in the year when the sun is directly in the center of the earth, and there were certain temples built to see this very rare occurrence, and so what we did was, we for the first time the institute of archeology is allowing visitors to be at Caracol, for the four times during 2012 to see this event."
Jim McFadzean
"Any information on how the Mundo Maya countries are joining to take advantage of 2012?"
Shari Williams, Communications Director, NICH
"Yes of course, like us they have been sitting down and thinking about activities to have. They have been inviting international visitors to their country and of course they are all proclaiming to be the place to be or 2012, but we are very proud to say that according to the Travel Channel Belize is a top destination to be in 2012, and so we are very proud of this and we are not going to let our visitors down. We are going to work very hard in terms of making them have an experience a once in a life time experience and they could safely go back and say, I was in Belize for 2012."
Travel Agents and Airlines are already reporting increased bookings to Mundo Maya destinations including Belize. Mexico has already launched its Maya 2012 tourism plan to meet the more than 50 million visitors it expects to host for 2012, and at home here the Maya 2012 Calendar of events will get its official unveiling come next Wednesday, January 11th.
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