1st months of 2004 set new tourism records
If you thought that last year's fantastic figures for tourism were a fluke, a con, or the product of an overactive imagination you'd better look again. That's right: the upward trend continues. According to statistics released today by the Belize Tourism Board, both overnight and cruise arrivals have increased dramatically during the first two months of 2004. Arrivals at the Philip Goldson International Airport, the country's main port of entry, increased nine percent in January and a whopping seventeen percent in February compared to the same period in 2003. This makes fifteen consecutive months of increased airport arrivals, fourteen of which were new monthly records. The figures for cruise ship arrivals, while of much lesser economic impact than overnight stays, were up an impressive sixty-seven and eighty-two percent respectively for January and February. In what may be a rare instance of official understatement, Director of Tourism Tracy Taegar commented, "Belize is becoming an increasingly popular vacation destination."

Marty --

Thanks so much for posting this sort of info. It looks like our bookings will be quite good this quarter. This helps counter the worries we got after the very down posting of a couple of months ago.

We just went down (last two weeks in February) for the first time in two years and had a wonderful time at our place. Things are getting better in San Pedro in terms of traffic and cleanliness. Front street (what is it now ,"Reef Drive"?) looks really good now without losing it's Hemingway-esque flavor, the restaurants are better than ever, and North of the cut (where we are) is getting ever more interesting.

We're really please at what the city administration is doing, and the interaction between the mayoress and the Chamber of Commerce seems to be very productive. Where else does the C of C pick ecological work as its main projects?

By the way, it looks like a bridge to replace the old hand ferry is really in the works, but the concerns of those of us North of the cut are being dealt with in its construction. No sailboats through the cut (fixed bridge) though, under proposals currently being reviewed. Nothing is settled yet, but it looks like the bridge is coming fairly soon. There goes my dream of getting into youthful shape again by signing on as a ferry hand.

Mike Ryan