But even if we were to secure new carriers into the country, the BTB may still see a dip in arrivals this summer, because there won't be any Belize International Music and Food Festival. Mahler says they decided to take a break from it this year and explained why.
Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism
"We have a lot of questions about that already, people wanted to know what's the lineup and all that but we have decided not to do it this year and we will bring it back next year. The past 3 years we have had inclement weather, so we will build out, we will start the build out of the stadium in San Pedro, Saca Chispa field so we can have that event there in a safer environment where the elements can't affect the performances and the fun that people can have."
JO-
"So it will stay on the island?"
Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism
"Yes ma'am it will."
JO-
"So the idea you had of shifting it between belize, the mainland...?"
Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism
"The roomstock is in San Pedro, and the infrastructure is there."
JO-
"Do you have a timeline as to when this will be up and running?"
Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism
"All the designs are being finalised, we got the support from the area rep and the town council and then they will do some consultations when the plans are completed."
"So it's a huge economic spin off and when we calculated it, it was close to 13 million last year. It was huge so the economic impact for us is more important than breaking even, we would have wanted to come close to break even. But these events are very costly and like I said before when I spoke to the minister of tourism in St Lucia they spend close to 13 million US on their St Lucia Jazz festival so she was a bit upset that we were not having it this year and people are upset. But when we started it, people were upset too and now that it has built traction and now that people can see the benefits for the country and marketing that happens because of it now. People see the work."
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