On the other side of the Norwegian dispute is the Belize Tourism Industry Association, the BTIA. They've opposed the Norwegian deal for months and the Placencia Chapter headed by Real Estate Developer Stuart Krohn has been particularly vocal.
As the MOU came closer to signing, they stepped it up this week with a bawdy "nuh bend down" campaign and a no-holds-barred appearance on the LOVE FM morning show.
That prompted a detailed, 15-point response from the BTB – notable because for months the organization leading Belize's tourism industry had been mute on the pivotal, hot-button issue.
The release talks about the 800 to one thousand jobs that will be created, the 50 million dollar investment and the expected low numbers of cruise visitors – thus minimizing the impact on the Placencia peninsula.
We asked both Tourism Director Laura Esquivel Frampton and CEO Tracey Taegar Panton to amplify their comments today; both said they would call us back, but at news time we were still waiting for those call backs.
Who we did get to speak to were the heads at the BTIA, Herbert Haylock and Stuart Krohn who discussed the claims of job creation and foreign direct investment:
Stuart Krohn - BTIA Placencia
"I Think it's marvelous that Tracey Taegar Panton and Laura Esquivel, after 3 and a half months after we wrote them - and literally begged them to please explain what is going on - that now, when the Government is on the Verge of signing an MOU with Norwegian Cruise Line, now they have mysteriously decided it's time for them to speak."
Jules Vasquez
"How can you argue with 130 calls per year and 800 to 1,000 direct jobs? You don't have to worry about that because you are a property owner, but people need jobs."
Stuart Krohn
"Absolutely, let them list these 800 jobs."
Herbert Haylock - President, B.T.I.A.
"We talked about job creation, and we have a number that has been assigned in this particular list of things here, but exactly what type of jobs are we talking about? Let us look at the specifics of that. Who are we actually going to be giving jobs to, for how long? What type of wages are they going to be getting?"
Jules Vasquez
"There is no reason which would be applied to you all because you have interests to protect - your specific interests - and it's certainly within your right to protect those interests. But the decision makers in the country have a much broader range of interest that they have protect, and they have to protect the most marginalized in society. That's who all these 800 to 1,000 jobs will help, so while you all play the "Chicken Little", in fact, progress will happen and people will get employed."
Stuart Krohn
"But remember, the Government is saying that they can have up to 25% of the jobs filled by foreigners. So, do you think that the 25% are going to be security guards, or do you think the 25% might be all the good paying jobs? But virtually employee - I would say 95% to 99% - at our best hotels are locals. So, what is so special about the cruise industry that they get 25% of their employees as foreigners?"
Herbert Haylock
"We seem to be enamored, and we like what is sexy, in this instance, in terms of these particular types of developments because it's big money. 50 million dollars, again when you begin to look at it from and FDI perspective, that's real money, when you begin to look at what is reported, that FDI has been falling. So, yeah, that's going to give a boost to that particular realm of Government, and going back to your question, that's what they may be looking at. 50 Million dollars is surely a boost, but let us not take it out of the context of what are the real needs developmentally for this country."
Stuart Krohn
"This is a project about jobs alright; it is a project about economic gain, but it's about a few jobs, and a lot of economic gain for a very small number of people, and they don't live in the South. They're right there in Belmopan."
Jules Vasquez
They say that this proposed cruise development project would in effect, ensure the distribution of passengers in accordance with the pocket cruise model as outlined in the Tourism Master Plan."
Stuart Krohn
"You can't take a gallon of water and pour it into a pint bottle, so when they talk about doing some magic, whereby 4,000 cruise ship passengers are somehow the same as 250 in terms of impact, which defies the law of physics. The convoluted kind of reasoning that would make you believe that 4,000 passengers coming off a cruise ship will cause no less damage to the environment than 250 passengers defies the laws of physics, as much as the laws of common sense. And yes, Belize City will eventually be denuded of cruise business. You know it, I know it, and everyone sitting at that office at the BTB knows it."
Herbert Haylock
"Show us the information, the analysis that you've done to demonstrate that economically, Belize gets the better part of this deal in terms of the financial returns. So us that same information socially that Belize is better off with a development such as this in the location. So us environmentally as well that Belize is better off both environmentally, and we don't lose from a cost perspective, in terms of putting this development in place."
The MOU is expected to be signed next week.
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