... Officially opens


The Belize Tourism Board (BTB) is pleased to announce the newly established tourism zone in the Fort Gorge area of Belize City, now called the "Fort George Tourism Zone” (FGTZ). The new improvements to this area will enhance experiences for both locals and visitors; and overall statistics about Belize's cruise industry. FGTZ officially opened today, Wednesday, December 8.

Over the past decade, the cruise industry has increasingly attracted more and more international travelers to Belize, while also serving as an important contributor to the local economy and employer for Belizeans. To ensure the continued success of this vital tourism sector, the BTB, Belize City Council, and Ministry of Tourism, Civil Aviation and Culture worked together to create a sound plan that will help Belize remain competitive within the global tourism marketplace.

The Fort George Tourism Zone is located in the immediate vicinity of the Fort Street Tourism Village in Belize City. This area is constituted by all of Queen Street (including the swing bridge), bounded on the west by Haulover Creek, and on the east and south by the Caribbean Sea.

Surveys from visitors are saying that they are far from comfortable with the way things were before. "Cruise passengers have consistently rated Belize as the number one destination for tours, so we know that our product is unparalleled and that we have something very good to offer,” stated Seleni Matus, Director of Tourism. “That's consistent. At the same time, though, those same cruise passengers who want to come to Belize City and walk around and see what we have to offer and buy tours from the independents often leave with a very bad perception of Belize and actually we are consistently rated as the worst destination in that regard."

And with this in mind, BTB believes that improvements to the new Fort George Tourism Zone are an important step in helping local businesses more effectively sell their products and services in an equitable and orderly marketplace.

There are lots of changes to come especially in the way business was carried out by taxi operators, food vendors, tour guides, hair braiders and other operators. Operationally it will translate into a complete change from business as usual.

"We're looking at improved traffic flow systems, which will include the One-Way flow of vehicular traffic off North Front Street, will now be in effect every day (Sunday to Sunday) from 6:00 am – 6:00pm.,” stated Lloyd Enriquez, Coordinator, Tourism Zone. “We are also looking at the establishment of the dispatch booths at the various gates next to the FSTV, so that when guests come out, they will interface with a dispatcher."

That means guests will no longer be directly approached and solicited by tour guides, hair braiders and others - that is now the duty of the dispatcher. Once the dispatcher has a very good idea of what tour the guest wants to take, that person who is on the rotation in line will be able to close that sale, will be able to approach and to close that sale and to give more details as to the tour or whatever it is. But all 10, 15, 20 people will not be able to approach, only that person who it is first in line will be able approach and to close the sale.

These improvements are essential in creating a friendly and enjoyable experience for cruise ship passengers and other international tourists, encouraging them to return to our beautiful country again and again.
Ambergris Today

We need to make Ambergris Caye a Tourism Zone!

The taximen wouldn't allow that!

Well, think a little further than that; not allowing criminals to tourist zones would be a good start. Better (tourism) police presence (at least as much as the country's average) and a lot more lighting would be a second. It doesn't take a lot of imagination to make a sensible list.

Having been in several port cities in the Caribbean, on cruise ships, I have seen everything from open air - run for your life places to literally chain link fenced in areas with guards patrolling. It is unnerving for a tourist to get off a boat and have locals running over one another to get to them. Then again, in Port Limon, where the "tourist area" is fenced in, there are locals doing business there, and there are guards patrolling all the perimeters. I took one look outside the fence there and decided that I would not go out. I think a combination of some of these ideas would work better than the current method. It's a step in the right direction at least.

The Zone On Its Own: End Users Say They Lost Money

The Fort George Tourism Zone has concluded its first week - and we didn't have to wait around for an official report card; the cab drivers. Tour operators and hair braiders gave their own today: it is a big-fat "F."

Might sound harsh, but for those who earned a fraction of their average take-home pay this week, there's no arguing with empty pocket syndrome:….

Yoni Rosado, Cavetubing.com
"Did you guys make any money this week?"

Crowd
"No, no money."

Jules Vasquez Reporting
No money and no smiling faces, in fact, it was a room full of serious faces, anxious because in the first week of the BTB's zoning plan, they didn't make what they should have. But the zoning isn't the issue:

Tom Greenwood, President FECTAB
"I remain convince that the zoning idea is an excellent idea because we saw at terminal 4, sex, drugs and all that being offered I mean I personally heard an offer for little boys, if you want."

So Zoning is not the problem, the Fort Street Tourism Village is - they say the village is keeping their visitors inside

Yoni Rosado, Cavetubing.com
"Our guest already book with us for the months or days before, they cannot find us because the inside doors at FSTV have no EXIT and if the doors mark no exit then there are 3 or 2 security guards right in front of the door with guns, now if our guests that are book cannot get out of FSTV how will the people that are trying to see the beautiful city of Belize or meet the taxi guys or the hair braiders, how will they exit, they will have no interest to exit any door."

Tom Greenwood, President FECTAB
"We now see evidence that yes people are now coming ashore but now it is the FSTV that are holding the guests hostage because they are not suppose to tell people that you can't exit here and you can't exit there."

Yoni Rosado, Cavetubing.com
"We are the outsiders of tourism village, open the gates, if you want the zoning to work you have to open those doors and those gates."

Tom Greenwood, President FECTAB
"That tourism village must not hold people hostage, guests want to come outside, let them come outside as they will. The BTB has put up a zoning plan, I see it as an excellent plan, it's working except that as brother Yoni said unfortunately its working for FSTV, so open the gates and let my people go!"

Dramatic, but in this room, to this angry audience, not overplayed:

Tour Operator
"I will tell you what ladies and gentlemen, we need to eat and we don't need any more excuses, we have identify the problem and we will deal with it whether or not BTB wants. At this time we are being reasonable."

Yoni Rosado, Cavetubing.com
"But our minds bug us to know that something is wrong, we are right next to the tourism village, we are seeing the dollar flying in our face and we can't catch it, something is wrong, it's like when you see aquarium, the fish are right next to you but you can't touch the water and you can't get wet and you can't touch the fish, there is a big log between you and that fish, so we are seeing everything going on, we see the vans going full, we are seeing everything but we cannot touch it. This is the last press conference we will have after this we picket BTB, we will picket wherever we have to. This is the last press conference."

Tom Greenwood, President FECTAB
"We need to take this to the next level, the next level I suggest folks is the 2 o' clock meeting at house of culture today and the next level after that if it don't happen, then we will haul out our placards and everything and take that there. And then it can go to various levels."

"FSTV, you got to get your act together boss because guess what, you can't hold back a category 5 hurricane ok."

And those at the center of the storm are the hair braiders who are protesting a major, major downturn in earnings:

Ruth Smith - President Of Hair Braiders
"We are here because we are not making any money. The area that BTB located us is Mirab parking lot, not even Mirab customers were using this parking lot. I have a situation, it was Wednesday, 4 ships, one of my co-workers made BZ$26, and the 62 played the same night in lottery."

Shakira Petillo, Made $26.00 Wednesday
"I made the $26.00, a day like with 4 ships, I would usually go home with US$160.00 in my pocket and I made BZ$26.00 on Wednesday."

Yoni Rosado, Cavetubing.com
"The people need to understand that $26.00 - that's it for the week, that's it. If a vendor only sell $30.00 that's it for the week it's not like you have Fridays, Saturdays, Mondays, Tuesdays, what you make on Wednesdays that's it."

The press conference turned pep rally was supposed to be followed up by a pre-scheduled "week-one post-mortem" meeting this afternoon with the tourism board. The operators had promised to take their fiery demands into that meeting but it was postponed at the last minute. It will now be held early next week before the cruise days.

As for the Fort Street Tourism Village, Director of Operations James Nisbet says nothing has changed with the security provisions - and that the armed security is for Diamonds International. He says guests continue to go outside at their leisure - and that the village management has facilitated the BTB as best it can by placing dispatcher booths inside the village to funnel guests out.

Channel 7

FECTAB addresses the negative effects of the zoning at tourism village

FECTAB has emerged as perhaps the most vociferous organization in the tourism industry taking on hot button issues in the industry. Not one to be silent, the organization today came out in full solidarity with the traders who earn their living at the Fort Street Tourism Village. The hair braiders, taxi drivers and tour guides say they have not been able to make any money since the introduction of zoning in the village on Wednesday. Because of the new measures, they are now placed far away from the reach thousands of cruise visitors. News Five’s Isani Cayetano reports.

Isani Cayetano, Reporting

Since its introduction earlier this week BTB’s Sustainable Tourism Program which includes the zoning of the Fort Street Tourism Village has been met with negative response from tour guides and vendors operating in the area. The new system was put in place to organize what had become a chaotic state of affairs within the village during the high season. While the project was initially lauded as a good plan it is now being heavily criticized by stakeholders within the tourism industry. Today is only the third day of the implementation of several changes in the Fort George area and the Belize Tourism Board has already come under intense scrutiny. Hosting a press conference on the effects of those recent changes was the Federation of Cruise Tourism Associations of Belize.

Yoni Rosado, Cavetubing.com

“What we have to understand is that the zoning have been mapped, have been designed not by us. I will ask a question to the vendor did BTB contact you before the zoning? I will ask a question to the hair braiders did BTB contact you for your honest opinion for the zoning? And that is the question that I put to the people of Belize, to the city and to all the people involved in cruise tourism. Belize Tourism Board has met with us one, I believe two times, about the zoning but it’s not for asking us anything. It’s to tell us what’s going to happen.”

And what has happened, according to FECTAB president Tom Greenwood, is that the scheme is only benefiting the companies inside the Fort Street Tourism Village. Vendors who offer business outside the gates of the marketplace are once again shut out.

Tom Greenwood, President, FECTAB

“The BTB has put up a zoning plan. I see it as an excellent plan. It’s working except that as brother Yoni said unfortunately it’s working for FSTV. So open the gates and let my people go!”

Biblical references aside, those feeling the immediate effect of the new zoning system are the many hair braiders who, without the advantage of advertising or pre-booking, are basically left jobless.

Ruth Smith, President, Hair Braiders Association

“We di ya cause we are not making any money. The area that BTB located us is Mirab parking lot, not even Mirab customers were using his parking lot… And I’ve been to meetings after meetings and it hurts me because these are my co-workers that I work with for like eight to ten years. Some of them have been out here ten years, more than I have been out here. The only weather we don’t go to work is when a hurricane is coming and that’s the time we pray that the hurricane doesn’t come so we can go and work.”

As of Monday hair braider Claire Williams has been losing business because of her new location.

Claire Williams, Hair Braider (File: December 9^th, 2010)

“The tourists don’t come off the ship saying I’m going to get my hair braided, I’m going to get my toes painted; I have to convince them to get it done and I am not getting that break to convince them. Every time when I try the police tell me I gotta step back.”

Ruth Smith

“They always want to put the hair braiders at the back like we are not being recognized. You know, and we will not stand for that, that’s why I’m here today.”

Among those also affected are the taxi drivers who line the exterior of the village. With the new changes in place they are being advised to work closer with each other.

FECTAB Member

“Some of you people need to learn to discipline yourselves. I know that some of you have cops that are friends, that are your friends and would bad mind each other and you guys need to do better than that. You’re all out there for one purpose and please don’t try to undermine the purpose of your presence. You are there to make some money. You are not there to stop another brother from making money. Mek wi laan fi live together.”

The resounding message nonetheless was summarized in a few short sentences.

FECTAB Member

“BTB should have done the appropriate screening before this zoning is being implemented. They should have studied how this will affect all the players negatively. First of all they failed to realize that the zoning will never be effective if tour operators don’t cooperate.”

Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.

New Tourism Zone plan not working

Yesterday, Wednesday, the Fort George Tourism Zone opened for business with 4 cruise ships in port. Another three are said to have arrived today.

Ordinarily, that would have meant big business for the hundreds of vendors, taxi operators, tour guides, and other service providers within the Fort Street Tourism Village and outside in the area stretching from City Hall to Memorial Park and the sea. It would have prompted a frenzy of haggling and jousting as competing services sought out willing customers.

But stakeholders we spoke with say that the plan, unveiled to some fanfare on Saturday last at Old Belize to regularize the situation, has not been translated well on the ground, and the result is severe loss of income at the worst possible time – two weeks before Christmas.

Yesterday, members of the Tourist Village Taxi and Tour Guide Association complained to reporters that while some of their members inside the Village area had gotten some business, those operating from what is referred to as “Terminal Four” on North Front Street, previously home to the temporary market and next door to the Brown Sugar Market complex, were getting no business at all, because the dispatchers hired to direct tourists to them were largely being ignored, and worse, the gate was kept closed, barring them from directly soliciting the visitors.

Today, we went to see for ourselves. Around 3:00 this afternoon, nearing the end of an ordinary day by industry standards, activity had significantly dwindled on North Front Street and most service providers were just standing around, waiting.

According to Ruth Smith, president of the Hair Braiders’ Association, a group of 16 women established for as much as a decade in the area, the plan was “not working out at all; they put us in the Mirab parking lot, far away from the tourists. We can’t go up to them, but we are yet to see anyone approach us. Our job is about negotiation, convincing them to get their hair done. How are we to do that if they lock us away?”

Smith says that non-members of the Association and her group have been put in the same area, further hurting their business. Today, she said, she made just US$6; on a day like yesterday, for instance, she estimates net income of “close to $200.”

“We were already sharing out jobs before this implementation. If someone approached me and I already have a job, I give it to the next lady in line. My main concern at the end of the day is seeing to it that I and the ladies I work with go home with something,” Smith said, adding that the Belize Tourism Board (BTB) would have to be responsible for non-members.

A taxi operator who did not identify himself told us that they were only being allowed to pick up and drop off persons who come out to them in the downtown area and at Old Belize. Previously, he said, they would get runs to some of the major tourist sites, where they would hand off to the tour guides already present and be paid for their services. Now, the tour operators get first crack, he said.

Craft vendor Jennifer Garcia complained about the size of the stalls in the parking lot next to the St. Mary’s tennis court, where the vendors are congregated. “They have us locked up in there like pigs, like we are in jail!” she said.

These and similar stories will be ventilated at a press conference to be called by the Federation of Cruise Tourism Associations of Belize (FECTAB) at the Princess Hotel in Belize City tomorrow morning, Friday, at 10:00.

The Reporter

New rules worry Tourism Village pros

The Belize Tourist Board’s new zoning rules for engaging the tourists went into effect in the Fort Street Tourism Village on Wednesday morning,

Officials from BTB and the Belize City Council saw first hand how the enforcement of the new rules created a wave of confusion among the tour operators, taxi drivers and hair braiders who depend on cruise tourists to eke out a living.

Under the new system, everyone is decked out in a T-shirt showing that he/ she is part of the authorized reception team.

Several tour dispatchers direct the tourists to the waiting tour operators and the hair braiders have a designated area to carry on their business. The system avoids the negative impression which tour operators and hair braiders inadvertently created in the past, by their “bum-rush” approach to the visitors as they walk through the village.

City Councilor Wayne Usher and newly appointed City Administrator Mrs. Candice Burke toured the Tourism Village to see how the changes were shaping up. “Things seem much more orderly now. We don’t see that bum-rush that we used to see . We are partnering with the Tourist Board and the Ministry of Tourism, and things are going according to plan,” Usher said.

The hair braiders are not entirely happy with the new arrangements. Yvette Petillo, a single mom who braids hair for a living, said: “Hair braiding is all about convincing. You know how many taxis have already left. No hair braiders have left as yet.”

Hair Braiders Association President, Ruth Smith, said she plans to negotiate further because she feels they might not make any money if they accept the BTB’s plans to put the hair braiders inside the Mirab parking lot, where they might not be so readily noticed by the tourists.

Cecil Gill rents motor scooters and said the new rules are not helping his business. For him it’s a bread and butter issue.

“I need to make money to live and survive, I cannot come out here and take home nothing,” Gil said.

President of the Tourist Village Taxi and Transfer Association, John Pollard, said things are slow for his members under the new rules, but they are hanging in there and are willing to work with the BTB.

The Reporter

And they want to replicate this mess in Placencia? No bloody way.

Whatever the rationale (increased profits for tourist village?), I do think it is wise these days to attempt to insulate the cruise ship passengers from the street vendors.

These guys and girls (hair braiders yelling and physically tugging my hair as I walked by on a recent trip to the Mirabs) seem to have become even more aggressive as of late. And let's face it - Unlike most of Belize - Belize City is not a safe city for anyone (let alone tourists!) to be roaming around chatting it up with locals.

This is dangerous thinking. Don't tell me, you're from the US?
It is this kind of class/cultural separation that leads to civil disobedience and ultimately terrorism.
Look at Israel. A nation of barbed-wire surrounded enclaves of haves and have-nots. Ugly high security bomb-proof corridors for merely getting in and out. Is that how you want to live? Walled in to your little San Pedro gated community with massive security and no freedom to walk the beach? Those people were born here, have to live and work here. It is an insult to every one of them to be excluded from any part of THEIR, NOT YOUR, country.

And let me guess.... you are an American/ Canadian / European / Belizean currently residing in Belize City? I don't suppose you have any security or take any precautions? Would you recommend the immediate area around tourist village as a tourist attraction to visiting family or friends?

There are unsafe areas in EVERY urban city in EVERY state in EVERY country. As much as I advocate supporting those in need trying to scrape out an honest living there, it is simply not prudent to dump unsuspecting tourists out into unfamiliar areas with this level of documented crime....

I don’t pretend to have the answer of how the area around the Tourism Zone should be handed but I’ll say this. Something has to change. In the last year on no less than 3 occasions (probably more) in talking to people who ask me what I was planning on my pending retirement, I answered Belize. The look on their face changed, they looked at me kind of funny and said you really like it there? One even said it was too scary for them.

Upon questioning, all of them had only been to Belize City on a cruise ship. All of them said they would never return. Now think of how many conversations they had with other people telling them of their negative impression of Belize, based on their Cruise Ship experience in Belize City.

Of course I informed them that Belize has a lot more to offer but I’ve remarked to my wife that Belize’s reputation has been hurt by Cruise ships arriving in Belize City. First impressions and all of that. Belize needs the dollars but something has to improve or over the long term it may be detrimental to Belize.

I follow the message board...Cruise Critic... The comments on that board echo what has been posted here.

I found Belize on a Cruise, but I took the taxi to Caye Caulker. Most tourists will not get of the ship, let alone leave the village.

Here is a recent post on Cruise Critic....

"Yesterday, 12:46 PM
MonkeyBiz
Cool Cruiser

Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: PA
Posts: 91

i was there on wednesday. i didnt leave the gated area. all sorts of unsavory looking characters reaching in through the bars saying "hey lady, wanna get a taxi and go somewhere" no thanks.

we booked a tour through eco tours and it was really nice. im glad we did cuz there is nothing to see in the port. it seemed like the canal street (area in nyc where you buy all the knock offs) of belize. just a bunch of counterfeit stuff and little junky souvenirs. it looked kinda scary outside the gate. there were security guards there but i wasnt confident in them keeping me safe if i left.

i loved my snorkeling trip there. it was amazing, but i wouldnt ever come back to that area to just hang out and wander"

Typical that your primary concern is with your own safety and that of "unsuspecting tourists". The issue in BELIZE should be the welfare of Belizeans. These people were making a living until recently disenfranchised by a foreign select group of capitalists. Sound familiar? Good old capitalist imperialism.
As for what I would recommend, a better solution focusing on the needs of the full time citizens, not the occasional tourist.
I am a US national, 5 year resident, longtime visitor to Belize. I am disgusted to see the corporate mentality that has ruined my country be exported to these "unsuspecting BELIZEANS".

"As for what I would recommend, a better solution focusing on the needs of the full time citizens, not the occasional tourist."

Like economic dependence on an industry other than tourism, perhaps? I agree - that would be preferable. Until that point, discouraging "occasional tourists" in your country is kinda like shooting those "full time residents" in the foot....

It would seem that the majority of the people in question have been already been effectively shot in the foot, locals and tourists alike. That gated mall/courtyard, designated now as the "tourist zone" was formerly open to all. It was the debarkation point to visit BZ City. The tourists, including cruise ship visitors. traditionally had the run of the entire downtown district. Most people have seen contrived flea market enclaves and want to see the real Belize culture.
Now a handful of corporate cruise industry outsiders and their locally bought despotic counterparts have effectively given birth to yet another Belize monopoly. They have corralled all the money elbow to elbow in a small compound, while the unrest and fear generated by the "iron curtain" street entrance works in their favor.
The people of Placencia are battling the same exact economic oppression.
The solution is not exclusion, but orderly freedom to enter and leave the compound, cruise about all of downtown BZ City, policed if need be, but not excluding anyone from anywhere, tourist or local.
Stop monopoly on tourist revenues by the obvious monopolistic oppressors. They have no right to restrict anyone's physical freedom or trade.

Tourism associations say new tourism zone is a “hostage” situation

The Fort George Tourism Zone, which was launched on Wednesday, December 8, with the objective of enhancing tourists’ experience in Belize as well as allowing for a more structured tourism market, has caused considerable dissatisfaction among some tourism association members.

In a press conference held on Friday, December 10, 2010, by those associations whose members are stationed outside of the Tourism Village, tourism workers lamented that the new mandatory protocols have almost completely wiped out their prospective earnings.

The general sentiments expressed by the unhappy attendees - the Hair Braiders Association, the Taxi Association, the Tour Guides Association, cruise tourism operators and other stakeholders - were that while they believe the new zoning plan is an excellent and welcomed initiative, it has not worked in their favor due to the ban on proactive interaction with the tourists, and further, due to what they say is a “hostage situation” with the tourists.

Yoni Rosado of Cavetubing.com stated at the press conference, “Outside, we have a taxi association, tour guides association, tour operators association, hair braiders association, vendors association, we have all these city people organized, ready to make a buck, but if the people [tourists] cannot get out, then how are we supposed to make some money?”

This was the last press conference being held to voice their concerns, said speakers at the conference, and then they will start to picket: “We are giving BTB [Belize Tourism Board], we are giving FSTV a chance. Listen we have a press conference, work with our program or face the consequences. We are being reasonable with them,” said Yoni Rosado, owner of Cavetubing.com.

The speakers spoke on what they say is an act of holding tourists hostage - due to the fact that the doors leading from inside the Tourism Village, which are guarded by armed police officers and are not marked as exit options, are closed, leaving tourists with no choice but to disregard the activities outside on Fort Street.

Rosado, who was the most vocal speaker during the press conference, stated that he along with the other tourism employees of the associations represented at the press conference - the Taxi Association, Tour Guides Associations, Hair Braiders’ Association, and the Federation of Cruise Tourism Associations (FECTAB) - has seen profits sink due to the lack of business.

“We don’t want to attack anyone directly, but our minds bug us to know that something is wrong. We are right next to the Tourism Village, we see the dollar signs flying around our face, but we can’t catch it Something is wrong. Believe me the door does not mark “Exit”, that is how critical it is, so my appeal is to the Government to check in on FSTV.

“We have been painted by BTB [the Belize Tourism Board], by FSTV, by the taxi association inside - we have all been painted as bad, aggressive people, oh we have no self-control,” said Rosado.

The Hair Braiders’ Association contends that assertive persuasion is critical to their ability to generate revenue, since the majority of their customers have to be convinced by them to purchase their services.

President of this association, Ruth Smith, stated, “Presently we are not making any money. The area that BTB located us is Mirab’s parking lot, Not even Mirab’s customers were using this parking lot. They always want to put the hair braiders to the back like we are not being recognized and we will not stand for that. That is why I am here today. We will not stand for that. We will not fight them physically, but at the end of the day, people have the power.

“I have a situation. It was Wednesday, four ships, one of my co-workers made twenty-six Belize dollars, the sixty-two played the same night. We need to be on the spot; we can’t be all half-mile away from where all the action and all the money-spending is and expect to make money.

“You know I came to an agreement with them that as long as they take on these ladies’ responsibilities for their house, their kids, I have no problem but apart from that leave us so that we can make our honest money.”

Shakira Petillo, a hair braider, stated that last week she suffered an almost complete wipeout of her regular earnings, as she made only twenty-something Belize dollars as opposed to typical profits of one hundred and fifty US dollars.

President of FECTAB, Tom Greenwood, explained, “FSTV is a port [of entry]; the judgment of the Supreme Court was that they had to have a fence; if you have legitimate reasons for being in there, i.e., proof that you’re meeting somebody, they should open the gates both ways, so our fight is now against FSTV: open those gates, let people go, stop holding people hostage, stop shuffling people up and down for whoever likes it.

“We demand that FSTV open the doors and let people go where they want, and also we demand a meeting with the directorate at FSTV with all the tour operators’ heads and the heads of the unions etc.”

Yoni Rosado went on to show how typical booking activity and transactions with tourists are being stifled due to the wrong impression that’s being given to the cruise ship visitors: “I double-checked on Wednesday and sure enough there were three groups taken for cave tubing that had booked with persons on the outside and one group told me personally that they were told that we no longer exist; they don’t exist anymore.

“Our guests that have already booked with us, months before, cannot find us, because the doors that FSTV has inside, don’t mark exit, then if they don’t mark exit there are two or three security guards right in front of the door, with guns, so my question to FSTV and the tourism village, is where would you go to book a tour, if you have to go through a door with two securities with gun.

“The people that are booked with the tour operators online, they are trying to exit the FSTV but they can’t get out, so we see it urgently.”

Rosado went on to comment on the ill-chosen mechanisms being used to mark off the zone: “If you go to Fort Street in front of the Tourism Village, you don’t have to be smart; with a little bit of common sense you can see that something is wrong”, he said. “They have the tour guides and the taxi guides between two red cones that are marked ‘red zone’”, he stated. “Now I am not a big traveler.”, he explained, “[but] whenever you see a red zone, danger, so if you put tour guides and taxi guides and hair braiders and vendors between two cones that say ‘red zone’, it’s danger. Who came up with the idea to mark ‘red zone’ on the cones; the cones are already red; that needs to be corrected.”

Rosado went on to vow, that, although they do not intend to disrespect the BTB, the police or the dispatchers, “We will do whatever it takes because this is about justice; if we are wrong let the people of Belize tell us that we’re wrong.”

Amandala

Amen.............