And, very strangely that robbery at the BTB on Regent Street- had a strange spinoff effect on the Tourism Village across the harbour mouth on Fort Street. This morning the Tourism Village Management closed the gate at Terminal Two - after they heard the Belizean operators outside just talking loosely about the robbery at BTB the day before. That somehow got misinterpreted as a discussion about a possible jacking at the tourism Village, which led to the gate closure. It caused quite uproar.
That's because dozens of taxi-men and tour operators line up there to link with their guests or recruit tours - and when the gates don't open, they don't make any money.
We found out the real situation this morning:..
Cecil Gill - Rents scooters
"Before we had the gates open and the tourists would come out and we had an opportunity to solicit and get our jobs. Today, out of the blue all the gates are closed. We don't know why. Information that I have gotten from an officer is that there is a new management team here."
Roy Craig "Street Vibes" - Taximan
"They closed the gate because of the lack of management but they got us actually crush like a lemon."
John Pollard - President, Tourist Village Taxi and Transfer Service
"Yesterday when the gates were open some of the guys from outside here walk beyond the point and went in a step or two beyond the point - that is my understanding from yesterday why this gate is closed right now."
"By closing the gate - take a look outside here guys. Do you see how many people are here to do business. If those people are not coming outside things becomes very difficult, so we cannot allow this to be happening to us. Look here; you have a lot of people who are here who are tour operators have up their signs waiting for some people to come out but people cannot see them. Take a look at that blank wall - people cannot see anyone coming out from there. We want that gate open so we can see what is happening, so when the booked tours go then all the other small entrepreneurs could get what they should get what is coming out on the side."
"We don't need for people to get uptight and do things that we don't need to do. We are here to make money; the people inside needs to understand that we need to make money, they have the people inside, they have the opportunity to do what they want to do but at the same time open the gates so that all the small entrepreneurs on the outside get what they need to get."
The gates were opened as normal after the confusion over the false robbery scare was cleared up. Tourism Village management had no comment.
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