7 News Belize

Darley Says Mass Cruise Tourism Can Still Be “Pocket”
posted (September 18, 2013)
One month ago, Hugh Darley, the Project Manager for Norwegian Cruise Line's Harvest Caye project raised eyebrows when he discussed the Garifuna, which, with his southern drawl sounded more like "Gari-foona". But he got into trouble when he spoke about re-enacting the Dugu Dance - which was a major miscue because the Dugu is a sacred and closed ceremony where the Garifuna communicate with their ancestors.

That comment elicited a condemnatory statement from the National Garifuna Council, but Darley is undeterred: Norwegian has major plans for Belize, and they plan also to work with the Garifuna, so they won't let that mis-statement get in the way. Darley told us today that he met with the President of the National Garifuna Council Robert Mariano to explain what Norwegian has in mind:..

Hugh Darley, Project Director - NCL harvest Caye
"We probably make the mistake by asking the audience for the name for dance. The idea was that we like to showcase entertainment. You say entertainment and culture is the same thing, there are certain things that are sacred and we understand that, but what we want to do is we want things to be authentic."

Jules Vasquez
"Have you had a meeting to try and gain some peace with the National Garifuna Council?"

Hugh Darley, Project Director - NCL harvest Caye
"We have. Mr. Mariano was very pleasant to meet with this week. We had an opportunity to explain how we want to incorporate the culture and the story into theme and we plan to work with community later this year and actually find out who the authorities are because we want to license some of the music and the dance and some of the costumes. We want to actually put in place both Mayan and Garifuna culture into our entertainment program so that when the guests come off the cruise ship they are not seeing people portraying those roles, but we want to see the authentic people on the island."

Jules Vasquez
"Has the National Garifuna Council accepted your apology?"

Hugh Darley, Project Director - NCL harvest Caye
"Yeah, they actually didn't really request an apology. They wanted a clarification on what our process would be."

Speaking with us today, Mariano said he did meet with Darley because his executive wasn't ready to have any meeting. He says the final decision rests with the National Garifuna Council - which will meet with Darley in November and at that time they will put out a final position.

But Darley has already started having community consultations. The first was held in Independence Village this weekend where all four PUP area representatives from Southern Belize attended. Darley said the idea was to explain what Norweigan Cruise line means by pocket cruise tourism:..

Hugh Darley, Project Director - NCL harvest Caye
"One the island project that we are creating we can control how many people come ashore. We wanted to maintain and work with a sustainable tourism master plan for the south. We don't want to over crowd locations. For example, if a village can only entertain 24 or 48 people in a day - that's all we plan to actually take to that village. We wanted to meet with the village authorities and the village community leaders and say if you did something in your community and you have a craft or a village concept or you have a ruin nearby, how do we incorporate you into a village tourism concept?"

"Again trying to stay in the context of what was known here as pocket tourism, small groups of people will actually leave Harvest Caye and actually come into the main land, but in small groups. So, it will be the thought of what pocket tourism was meant to be in the sustainable master plan. The main land in the south does not have that infrastructure, so it needs to be as the master plan suggests. It needs to be control numbers. Small groups of tourists come into village is one thing, having large groups and large buses and large accommodations is not really for the south because it's very environmentally sensitive."

Jules Vasquez
"I am saying when a mega cruise ship pulls up at the destination, how can you say that's pocket cruising? that is the antithesis of pocket cruising."

Hugh Darley, Project Director - NCL harvest Caye
"The pocket tourism in the way the master plan was dealing with primarily the main land and the main land facilities there - are absolutely correct - only absorbs certain amount of people. What we are doing is breaking that group of people down into small tour groups. Those tour groups may visit all the way from Stann Creek to all the way to Toledo but in small groups of 24 passengers. Not large buses or large volumes of people like you see arriving in Belize City."

Jules Vasquez
"4,000 people arrive on one of your new ship. How many will stay on the island and how many will leave?"

Hugh Darley, Project Director - NCL harvest Caye
"The island can sustain about 2,800 people on the 75 acres, but only about 500-800 people will initially probably come ashore into the south. Those numbers fall in line again with what was suggested in the master plan. We are dealing with quality of numbers. We want to bring high value guests on the newest ships in the industry. The guests that are traveling are actually paying a more expensive ticket to go to the destination that we are selecting. Those high value customers also translate into more spend on shore. What you want to do is you want to do quality tourism, not quantity."

Darley says he plans to have other community meetings in the south - and yes, that includes Placencia - where the project has been bitterly opposed by overnight interests.

Tune in tomorrow when you can hear Darley gives us Norwegian's perspective on the stake Bank project.



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