The other issued discussed in Miami was the future of cruise tourism in the Belize District. The Fort Street Tourism Village has a contractually
guaranteed exclusive until for the next decade or more, while Mike Feinstein has parliamentary approval for his Stake Bank project. In the middle of
all this is Carnival Cruise line which brings in the most cruise ships to Belize annually. So whose side are they on? They told the Prime Minister they
are good with Stake Bank:..
Dean Barrow - Prime Minister of Belize
"Carnival then, in essence is saying - by all means get the new cruise port built, we will encourage that, we're not saying to you if you can't, we
stop coming. And secondly they are saying, in terms of who builds it, that's for the government and Mr. Feinstein and FSTV to work out. I have said to
the FSTV principals just last week before I went to Miami - that there thought, that they could build the cruise port at stake bank is not going to
fly. Mr. Feinstein has made plain that he's not going to sell his island. He doesn't mind their partnering with him but in a minority role. And in any
case as they have made clear to me, even if they had the island and they could raise the financing to construct the facilities - they would require a
government guarantee of some 80 ode million US dollars. That's an absolute no, no. So as I said on the last occasion, in view of all this, government's
preference to proceed with the Feinstein version of the project. The last thing I want is for Royal Caribbean, which is a partner is FSTV to say well,
if you go ahead and build the new cruise port without first settling with us, our ships will stop coming. So, ultimately, the government will do what
it has to do - and what it considers best in the overall interest of the country. But we still must make an effort to settle with FSTV. If we can't,
then I'll come back to the nation and report and say where we go next."
The Prime Minister may be travelling to Miami soon to meet with Royal Caribbean to find out their position.
Email
Print