On Tobacco Caye, everyone seems to me to congregate on the Tobacco Caye Lodge property. It is an east side to west side property...the dock faces west and the bar is located there, then a large stretch of sand going eastward to the kitchen/dining room and beyond that, the cabanas and the reef again. It's as much "private" or "public" property as any other part of the caye, yet it is treated like a public park whereas other properties are not. I think it depends on how the owner of the hotel or house maintains/patrols the property.
For example: people staying at other hotels, or who come ashore from anchored catamarans costing $1,000+ US/day, feel perfectly justified to walk up to the TCLodge chairs and picnic tables, throw down a towel on one (or more) to "save it" while they snorkel, go eat lunch or do whatever. I've seen people from Gaviota's carry TCL's wooden chairs into the sea so they could stay cool while reading, no thought given to the effects of salt water soaking into the chairs and the metal hinges used for folding. The only time I've seen the owner of TCLodge tell someone to get out of his chairs was when he caught these jokers sitting on them in the sea. Granted, he does run a bar and if people are buying drinks they are certainly entitiled to seating at the bar or on the chairs, but the staking out of chairs and sunbathing territory often occurs early in the morning, long before the bar opens at about 3PM. Sometimes every single chair is full of people from the other hotels on the island and day trippers with picnic baskets. They don't hang around on the beach at the hotels where they sleep and eat? Why? None of those people are ever run off as far as I have seen: not run off the beach, not run off TCLodge property and not run off the chairs that belong to the property. Likewise, if you go to buy a drink at Reef's End or Ocean's Edge, you can enjoy your drink on their decks and chairs and hammocks.
However, if you are staying elsewhere, many of the hotel owners (whose guests spend all day on the TCLodge property and only come back for meals and sleep) WILL tell you to haul y'rass right outta their hammocks and chairs if you settle down in one without permission. They will tell you those hammocks are for their guests, and they are right and within the rights of ownership.
I have never, ever, in years of visiting TC seen ANYONE or HEARD of ANYONE being told they can not walk by on the beach or told not to enter or exit the water at a particular point. Some property owners are vigilent about the chairs and hammocks they have placed on their properties. Some are not.
The solution is for people, locals and tourists alike, to be considerate.
What a concept.