Historically, Belize has been known as a diving center for tourists. Is the current tourism strategy one of diversification?

Well, it’s not only a diving destination, but an eco-tourism destination and we have been marketing ourselves as that. We are one of the leaders in environmental tourism along with Costa Rica. With respect to tourism we also have a very fast growing cruise industry for day-tourism that also presents us with many challenges in how to balance this with our over-night tourism. We a committed to trying to do both, and one of the approaches we are taking is encouraging others to look for and develop new destinations in the cruise industry so they are spread out and do not over tax one side.

Does that also mean you are looking to improve infrastructure and wellness?

Yes, there is a great amount of development on the mainland for the day tourists, for example, nature trails, horse back riding trails, zip lines, bike trails, in order to provide different types of activities besides the traditional activities like visiting the Mayan ruins, which of course are still there, but we’d like to spread and thin out the number of visitors there at one moment.

As far as the investment projects, what are the major projects that you are working on and what is your strategy to attract investors?

At Beltrade was have recently been conducting several studies and have been identifying our priority sectors, and we our now working on our country and food image marketing strategies and we are developing a brand for our country. Following this, with respect to investments, we are doing a corporate contact program where we use a targeted, focused approach for targeting investment in Belize to the wide scope of general companies to invest, identifying areas of potential success, and then seek out people who would like to invest in those areas to ensure success.

Do you find that the Belize dollar being pegged to the US Dollar is an opening to developing the financial services sector?

Absolutely. The financial services sector is one of the 5 priorities that we have identified for attracting investment. The five priorities we have identified are tourism, traditional agriculture, agro processing for non traditional agriculture, financial services and furniture manufacturing.

Do you believe that the culmination of CARICOM (Caribbean Community) is a feasible ideal, as far as bringing together different incentives, customs and incentive regimes?

We’re already working on that with the harmonization with our legislations and other aspects, and I think despite the skepticism, that it’s going to be successful. Already Trinidad, Barbados and Jamaica have fast tracked their revision of legislation that needs to take place to be completed by the end of 2004. Their initial target date was the end of 2005. Belize for example is the end of 2005 and so are all the remaining islands, and so the target date for completion of the revision of our outstanding legislation that needs to be enacted or amended to allow for the CSME to come is right here. So as soon as a country’s legislation has made the proper adjustments we can start applying the CSME to that country.

Right now there is a meeting on the 11th and 12th of October in Barbados looking at the harmonization of the investment legislation for CARICOM, so it’s advancing faster than some people might be aware of.

What is your prognosis for tourism growth, and from what markets do you think the highest growth will come?

We anticipate to increase the number of visitors to Belize, both by air and by sea, from the cruise industry, and anticipate hitting the one million mark for arriving visitors by sea, and if you look at the trends, we have been making remarkable progress in that area. I think in 2001 it was in the area of 64,000, in the following year in was around 200,000, the following year it was over 500,000 and this year we projected over 900,000 and we believe that we will reach over a million visitors by the end of the year.

We’re also trying to attract larger hotel now for the high end tourists. We have a lot of 20-room hotels for the middle to low-end type of tourists, but we would like to see more golf resorts and 100+ room hotels in Belize to encourage the visits of the high-end tourists.

Where do most of the visitors come from?

Most of the cruise ships originate in the States.

What is the long term strategy for the agricultural component of attracting investment?

We are seeking and encouraging the establishment of processing plants to add value to our agricultural products, fruits and vegetable. The beef industry also has a very strong potential so we are also looking for the expansion of our nation herd, so investments in cattle is also welcome.

Do you feel that this conference is profitable for Belize and Beltrade?

I would say it is definitely profitable for Belize, not so much for Beltrade, as there was a lot of networking that took place. The individuals that came from Belize were very satisfied by the results of the meeting. There were people that came looking for financing, and while that need was not satisfied, they know that there are other areas that they have benefited from with regards to the networking. I have not hear any negative feedback about the conference.

What is your biggest challenge for next year?

I think the biggest challenge for next year will be embarking on outward missions to target the companies that we will be identifying because we don’t want to make a mistake in targeting those companies. So our challenge is to make sure that at the end of the consultancy that has taken place now, that the right companies are being targeted based on the models or tools that are being employed to target those companies.

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