Last year tourism arrivals hit an all time high but, this year there is some uncertainty about whether the trend will continue. And that's because of the economic uncertainty in the US - which is Belize's biggest tourism market. But speaking with us today the Minister remained optimistic - after meeting with the US Embassy:
Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism "I think... I had a meeting yesterday with the US Embassy and we had a frank discussion. And I believe this is an opportunity for us and I think things are going to settle down. Last week Friday I met with some of the major airlines that come to Belize and all of them are saying that they are expecting an uptick after June. For the first four months of this year we have seen record numbers except for March where last year March we had Easter in It and this year Easter fell in April. And so January was a record month, February was a record month, March was marginally down and April we had a record month. So now it's how we position ourselves. I believe the Mexican market is important, the Canadian market is important, South America is going to be important and the regional aspect of it, but air connectivity is also important so we have some contracts on the table and hopefully we can get those workers out by the end of the year where we have new carriers coming into Belize."
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Last year tourism arrivals hit an all time high but, this year there is some uncertainty about whether the trend will continue. And that's because of the economic uncertainty in the US - which is Belize's biggest tourism market. But speaking with us today the Minister remained optimistic - after meeting with the US Embassy:
"I think... I had a meeting yesterday with the US Embassy and we had a frank discussion. And I believe this is an opportunity for us and I think things are going to settle down. Last week Friday I met with some of the major airlines that come to Belize and all of them are saying that they are expecting an uptick after June. For the first four months of this year we have seen record numbers except for March where last year March we had Easter in It and this year Easter fell in April. And so January was a record month, February was a record month, March was marginally down and April we had a record month. So now it's how we position ourselves. I believe the Mexican market is important, the Canadian market is important, South America is going to be important and the regional aspect of it, but air connectivity is also important so we have some contracts on the table and hopefully we can get those workers out by the end of the year where we have new carriers coming into Belize."