Activities including Zip Lining, Rock Climbing and Canopy Tours will support Safety

Figure 2: Zip Line Operation

As the popularity of these high angle activity attractions continue to increase in Belize, the Bureau of Standards Technical Committee (TC) for Tourism and Related Services is currently developing standards to help ensure safety. These activities have historically been popular for tourists that come to Belize. The number of tour operators and tour guides offering one of the mentioned types of tours or a combination of these also keeps rising.

This means that more tourists are exposing themselves to something considered being High Risk in Belize. We have to ensure their safety is a priority and given also that tourism is one of the biggest economic sectors for Belize and something as small as a bad accident or incident may affect the entire industry. Before waiting for some accident to happen we have to ensure that proper standards and practices are addressed.

Figure 1: Zip Line Technician

The TC recommended for the establishment of a Technical Subcommittee (SC) to work on standards for high risk activities in Belize including recreational scuba diving services, water sports activities, high angle activities, etc. At first the SC proposed a zip lining standard which was later made to be a more comprehensive standard to cover similar other activities as indicated above. The proposed requirements will include safety requirements based on engineering and operations of these high angle activity attractions. The SC is currently undertaking the standard in its initial development stages and pleased to inform that the

Figure 3: Site Visit for High Risk Activities SC Members

experts have been engaged in site visits and evaluation exercises to familiarize with these operations to ensure that the proposed standards reflects the latest technical expertise, helping to foster a culture of safety.

Anyone interested in this area is welcome to join BBS and become involved in the process.

Contact Information:
BBS Committee: TC-01 on Tourism and Related Services
Technical Contact: Lloyd Orellano, tel +501-822-0446; stds.officer@bbs.gov.bz

SC-01 on High Risk Activities
Technical Contact: Lenny Ayuso, tel +501-227-2420; layuso@travelbelize.org