There will be a community meeting with the Minister of Tourism and Culture, Hon. Manuel Heredia Jr. along with members of the Belize Tourism Board on December 6th at 11:00 a.m. to discuss tourism in our island. This is a great opportunity for the business community to come out and voice your concerns.

For more information on this meeting you can contact Ms. Jana Puga via email at [email protected] or via telephone at 227-2420.

Could someone please ask about the proposed Hotel Tax changes if youre in attendance?

jan 1, hotel taxes repealed, gst applied at 12.5%

Gracias Senora Valk

Are any other hotel, resorts on the island refusing access to tenants whom have long term leases of 6 mo. Or more? According to one resort here on the island this is aBTB law that only the resort is allowed to rent period. They have folks that are private owners of units, whom have rented before within the 6 mo. Lease.
Mgmt is having a rep, call owner trying to force them to sign on to there rental pool.but a few quest have been refused entrance to the resort.they claim The BTB is backing them as this is the new law?????

Might have to do with a requirment for a single BTB permit or license holder be the leasing/rental agent for a facility. If the resort company is the permit holder then they would be the only ones allowed to lease/rent. Just a guess

Do the private owners have a condo board or something similar to look out for the interests of the owners? Are there any minutes of meetings available that might have info on this? Sounds like you need to contact BTB about this to confirm and question why management would need to "sell" their idea. You would think that if it were good for the owners it wouldn't need a sales pitch. Sounds like it has more to do with being in the best financial interest for the resort than being a law. How about an owners group getting their own licence if that is the reason...

Had a visit from the BTB tax assessor yesterday, and he said this proposed change from Hotel Tax to GST is on hold, may or will not happen, at least not so soon. All up in the air at this point. Held up by Government.
He also said we need to charge hotel tax on all contracts of under a year. Can't wait to get clarification at the meeting if that is demanded of everyone now!

My understanding that the HOA must apply for a hotel license and ask to have the "resort"'s license revoked in order for private owners to procure a lease for less than one year. Most owners will NOT belly up to the bar and demand this. I am hoping that there is some allowance for owners to "opt out" of the rental pools. Even then, they would not be allowed to rent without a hotel license, and apparently the "NEW" rule allows only one license per property.

The HOA of any property needs to get on the ball and stop playing dead.

Is this meeting in Caye Caulker or San Pedro?