Two days ago we told you about the sluggish growth of the economy in the third quarter. But, government is counting on a strong fourth quarter in the tourism sector to end the calendar year showing modest growth. But, can tourism deliver? Yes, the official numbers are up - but the word on the ground is not as optimistic. We asked the president of the Belize Hotel Association, Ted Tejada what the fourth quarter will or can do for the economy:..

Ted Tejada - President BHA
"This year for the first time ever we are having Air Canada start their flight to Belize. Last year we had WestJet from Toronto. This year they expanded the route from Calgary to Belize. Now they are also having the Toronto flight and now Air Canada is adding another flight from Toronto to Belize. We also have Southwest that started last year and the numbers of these airlines are telling us that they are performing close to 80% occupancy. That means that there is more people coming to the country."

"We are hoping that these airlines that are existing add more routes and the new ones that are looking as well consider Belize. So the industry is growing. We know that we grew about 3% in occupancy last year. We hope that this coming year it will even be higher than that."

Tejada manages the Best Western Belize Biltmore Plaza.

Channel 7