Earlier this week we told you about the taxi operator at the Fort Street Tourism Village who had been detained by police after he allegedly took out a bullhorn and started making his pitch to cruise visitors. His lawyer says he did it out of desperation because the Tourism Board, with a new zoning system had pushed the Taxi Drivers too far away from the area where they can catch customers. Well, apparently, it's not only the taxi drivers who are upset. Today FECTAB held a press conference to say the entire system needs to be re-worked, and urgently before the cruise tourism season starts in earnest after Thanksgiving. Tom Greenwood told the media today that the new system appeared encouraging at first, but soon enough, the gates were locked on the OVER 200 tour guides, taxi drivers, hair braiders and other service providers who gather at the gates:...
Tom Greenwood - President, FECTAB
"All of a sudden terminal opened again; this is the one with the cover - glory alleluia. This is what we wanted, people started coming out both there and at terminal 2 because it takes time to change back."
"Two days later we learned that chain and padlock were put on terminal 1 door and people started coming out of terminal 2 again, the same dangerous situation we always been confronted with buses and people on the same ground. That and several other things have come up."
Yohnny Rosado - FECTAB
"If we get 30%-40% bad reviews with all the taxi men, tour guides and tour operators wandering and walking around to outside terminal 1,2, and 3 - if we get a couple bad reviews imagine how much bad we will have now when a guest cannot come out in the vicinity in front of the Tourism Village?"
Tom Greenwood - President, FECTAB
"Its going to be chaotic and once again there are going to be masses of large buses and people mixed together in a closed scenario with iron gates and cement walls. What do you think is going to happen?"
David Almendarez - FECTAB
"We at FECTAB, we have notice that even the taxi drivers as my fellow brothers are saying "it's not working out" and if its working out we need to find a way to make it work out. The hair braiders are saying the same thing "it's not working out" it needs to be improved."
Yohnny Rosado - FECTAB
"They don't care about the taxis, they don't care about the hair braiders and they don't care about anyone outside. Apparently they don't care about bad reviews."
Tom Greenwood - President, FECTAB
"If they thing that we are going to lap our tails between our legs and just walk home and forget it and they sit there with their preferred tour operator and other basic people inside there and enjoy it - they are going to be looking at end of cruise tourism in Belize. We say that very easily and very fairly, BE WARNED!!"
"You stop us from making a living, we are not going to sit there and watch you make that living. These are not angry moments, these are moments when we realize that we have reached a crossroad of survival."
David Almendarez - FECTAB
"The season haven't even started yet and the best time to fix this problem is now. That's why we are holding this press conference. Let us get together and dialogue. I am pretty sure that everybody who works out at the Tourism Village, that's our livelihood and nobody will mess our livelihood, so we need to get the system fixed."
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