If you frequently visit San Ignacio, then you've probably eaten at Ko-Ox Ha-Nah. It's one of the town's star restaurants - you can ask anyone about their burgers! But despite how good that lamb is or how puffy their fry jacks are, it's not enough to save them from the declining tourism climate.
Popular destinations across the country are feeling the pinch - tourists are only trickling in and locals are saving their money. The owner of Ko-Ox Ha-Nah explained that they've had to take drastic measures to cut operational costs. And he says he's not the only one.
Courtney Menzies has this story.
This is Ko-ox Ha-nah - one of San Ignacio's most popular and prized eateries. Its extensive menu includes Belizean breakfasts, lunches, finger foods, and specials. It's a favorite spot of both locals and tourists. But that heavy traffic has turned into a trickle and Ko-Ox has almost KO'd.
The owner of the restaurant, Peter Margesson, took to Reddit to share his concern - and found that the problem is country wide.
Peter Margesson, Owner, Ko-ox Ha-nah
"I'm happy to say for the majority of the past tourist season, it's been really good, it's been one of the best seasons we've had. But thing collapsed in mid-May and it's just been dreadful since then and it still hasn't picked up and we're having to cut down on staffing to accommodate that."
"I put a post on Reddit asking that question to see what response I would get and it was the same everywhere. San Pedro, Caye Caulker, down south, everybody is feeling the pinch."
But what's causing it? Well, that part isn't really a mystery. Both Margesson and the Minister of Tourism explained that it's mainly due to the uncertainty in the US following President Trump's election.
Peter Margesson, Owner, Ko-ox Ha-nah
"From my perspective, I think there's several reasons. I think people are afraid to travel at the moment, they rather save their money because the political situation up north isn't very stable. I think that's a major reason why people are not traveling and I think Belizeans are holding on to their money because they're not sure what's going to happen and if the tourist season collapses completely, everybody has to look after their money and sometimes eating out at a restaurant is a special occasion."
Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism, Youth, & Sports
"Well, from the first five months that we've seen, we're up by 1%. May was a bit soft. And I think the next couple of months will be difficult, but, we will ensure that we do everything possible to and have the numbers don't go down or don't go down much at all."
Courtney Menzies:
"Does it have anything to do with the tariff wars or something?"
Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism, Youth, & Sports
"Everything. I just got back from an investment conference for hotels, and the entire talk was about the uncertainty all around us and what that creates is it's a drying up of liquidity, and people's 401 K has been destroyed for the most part. And so they don't have that liquidity in their own lives to be able to take luxury vacations like what Belize offers."
And Margesson says that it's the employees of these restaurants in tourist destination that are suffering the most right now.
Peter Margesson, Owner, Ko-ox Ha-nah
"Obviously the biggest impact is for my staff. If we're not getting the money in, we can't keep a full staffing going so we're having to reduce people's hours on a weekly basis and that's terribly difficult because we're all in this together and I imagine because everybody else is slow, it's the same thing so the income that the locals have is cut down and it's quite difficult."
"We're all in the same situation and we just have to hang in there and do the best we can and hopefully in July, I'm hearing that some July bookings are getting better so I'm positive that it might pick up in July and August."
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