1948 Vick Barothy opens what was first fishing lodge in British Honduras, a camp on the Belize River near Belize City, now Belize River Lodge

1953 Fort George Hotel, first major hotel in British Honduras, opens in Belize City with 36 rooms

1961 Reef Colony Club with a restaurant, pool and eight rooms, on the site of what is now Ramon's Village, the dream of Vernon and Terry Hammon, first resort built on Ambergris Caye, was destroyed by Hurricane Hattie just before it was to open

1964 Tourism begins on Caye Caulker and Ambergris Caye, with visitors mostly from Belize City on day trips, Pioneering tourism full time seasons were John Grief on San Pedro, Ray Auxillou ( Cap´t Ray ) on Caye Caulker and Bert Foreman on Foreman´s Caye near Seargants Caye.

1965 Celi McCorkle opens four-room Holiday Hotel in San Pedro with husband John Grief.

1968 ohn and Carolyn Carr (artist) opened Banana Bank Lodge - first jungle lodge in Belmopan

1969 Paradise Hotel, owned by Jerry McDermott, opens in San Pedro (Phoenix Resort is now on the site of the Paradise Hotel)

1971 Jacques Cousteau visits Belize and introduces world to the Blue Hole tries to get scuba operations to give free guiding to Blue Hole.

197___ Ted Williams opens hotel in Placencia

1974 George and Carol Bevier open Rum Point Inn in Placencia; Elvi's opens as take-out burger stand in her home in San Pedro

1970s San Ignacio Resort Hotel, Tony's Inn and Hotel Maya in Corozal Town, Pelican Beach in

Dangriga, Hotel Mopan in Belize City and other early hotels open; Caye Caulker becomes a stop on the "Gringo Trail," along with Isla Mujeres in the Yucat�n and Lake Atitlan in Guatemala

1975 First dive boats begin operation in San Pedro, including Isla Mia and Reef Roamer

1977 Belize's first national airline, Belize Airways Ltd., established by Barry Bowen and others

1981 Chaa Creek Lodge opens in Cayo

1984 Belize exhibits at the 1984 World's Fair in New Orleans, introducing Belikin to the world

1985 Belize Tourism Industry Association (BTIA) founded, an expansion of the Caribbean Hotel Association (later the Belize Hotel Association)

1988 Barry Bowen's Chan Chich Lodge opens

1991 San Pedro Sun established, publishes weekly newspaper on Ambergris Caye; the largest

1993 Francis Ford Coppola opens Blancaneaux Lodge to the public hotel in Belize, the Ramada Royal Reef (now Princess Hotel) opens, with 120 rooms

1994 Tour guides first licensed

1996 Belize Tourism Board established

1998 The Blackstone Report, the first strategic plan for tourism in Belize, published; cruise ship tourists number around 14,000, mostly on small ships

2000 Belize's first big casino opens at Princess Hotel in Belize City

2001 Tourism Village opens in Belize City and first large cruise ship visits

2003 Cruise tourism jumps from less than 50,000 in 2002 to 320,000 in 2003

2002 Overnight tourist arrives reach 200,000

2004 Cruise tourism to Belize peaks at around 850,000

2007 Overnight tourism arrivals reach 250,000; national hotel occupancy peaks at 44.3%

contributed by Lan Sluder