Tourism

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Tourism

• Travel for recreation or leisure or
• provision of services in support of that
• Assumes disposable income (can afford it)
• leisure time (paid vacations)
• infrastructure available

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History of Tourism

• Pilgrimages from Europe to the Holy Lands
• 1758 first travel company in Great Britain
• 1851 first package tour Thomas Cook
• Health tours spas like Hot Springs (1876)
• Seaside resorts Atlantic City, NJ(1854)
• 1937 term tourism used officially by League
  of Nations
• 2004 - 763,000,000 tourist arrivals world-wide

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Top 5 tourist destinations (2004)

• France 75,000,000
• Spain 53,600,000
• United States 46,100,000
• China 41,800,000
• Italy 37,100,000

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Tourism in Belize

• 1952 appointed Committee for Tourism Activities
• 1953 Fort George Hotel first hotel
• 1960 tourism discouraged by PUP
• 1966 first hotel at San Pedro 4 rooms
• 1980 138 hotels with 1,377 rooms and 2000 beds
• 1981 first ecotours offered
• 1990 first real government interest
• 1998 new government pushes tourist industry
• 1998 - 408 hotels with 4000 rooms and 7000 beds
• 2004 25 of Belizeans work in tourist trade
• 2004 - 1,000,000 tourists (800,000 cruisers)

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Jacques Cousteau
The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau
(1968-1976)
Visited the Blue Hole in 1971 on the Calypso
Invented SCUBA
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Arrivals to Belize 1988 vs. 1999

• Mode 1988 1999
• Cruise ship 267 34,130
• Sea 9,386 11,312
• Air 49,409
  112,400
• Overland 82,959 168,800
• Spent 111,500,000 US in 1999
• Spent 174,100,000 US in 2005
• Only 30,600,000 spent by cruisers - 44.00

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Tourist attractions

• Beaches and coral reefs
• Diving, deep-sea fishing, sailing
• Vast tropical forest areas
• wildlife, vegetation, big rivers, hiking
• Over 600 archaeological sites
• visited by over 40 of tourists
• 20 natural areas created between 1982-1991

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What tourists do in Belize

• SCUBA/snorkling
• Wind surfing
• Fishing
• Sailing
• Caving
• Canoeing/kayaking
• Bird/nature watching
• Golfing (Caye Chapel)

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http//www.kayakbelize.com/
http//www.windsurfbelize.com/
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Deep-sea fishing
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Eco-friendly Cave tubing
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Ecotourism
The World Conservation Union (1996) defined
ecotourism as environmentally responsible travel
to relatively undisturbed natural areas that
promotes conservation, has low negative visitor
impact, and provides for beneficially active
socioeconomic involvement of local
populations. In March 1988, presidents of
Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and
Mexico signed a joint tourism promotion pact By
1998, Latin American countries reported they had
invested more than 21 billion US in ecotourism
initiatives
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Goals of ecotourism

• generation of financial support for protected
  area management
• generation of local economic benefits
• generation of local support for conservation
• Tourism must be planned and managed in such a
  manner that its natural and cultural environments
  are not depleted or degraded, but maintained as
  viable resources on a permanent basis for
  continuous future use
• Should be small-scale

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Toledo Ecotourism Association
Ten villages participate in a guest house and
ecotrail program

• Timothy, D. J., and K. White. 1999.
  Community-based ecotourism development on the
  periphery of Belize. Current Issues in Tourism.
  2226-242.

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Potential bad impacts of ecotourism

• trail proliferation
• erosion and widening
• muddiness on trails
• vegetation cover loss
• soil and root exposure
• tree damage
• animal-human conflicts
• degradation

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Incidental ecotourists

• tourists with multiple interests who encounter
  wildlife or fragile ecosystems inadvertently
• Lamanai Archaeological Reserve, Belize
• black howler monkeys being affected
• Possible solutions-
• more effective guide training
• limiting tourist group size
• increasing entrance fees at the Reserve.

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Ripple, W. J., and R. L. Beschta. 2006. Linking
a cougar decline, trophic cascade, and
catastrophic regime shift in Zion National Park.
Biological Conservation 133 397-408.
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Increase in ecotourists caused decrease in top
predator which in turn lead to increase in main
herbivore which lead to lack of recruitment of
cottonwoods, decreases in other vegetation, and
decreases in terrestrial and aquatic animals
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Mass tourism

• Movement of large numbers of people at once

Carnival Cruises lists 31 off-boat daily
activities They have proposed 50,000,000 US
cruise terminal 200 port calls at Belize in 2005
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Belize City is a tender port
Tourist Village
Freestay Caribbean Program
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Princess Hotel and Casino
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Radisson Fort George
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Banana Bank Ranch mile 46
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Chan Chich Lodge - northwest
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Francis Ford Coppola

• Blancaneaux Lodge
• Turtle Island
• La Lancha

Lake Peten
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Tikal
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El Castillo at Xunantunich
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Cayo Espanto - 2000 US per day
2300 US round-trip
12,000 US for island per day
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Placencia

• Lobsterfest 22-24 June
• Whale shark tours

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Tourism agencies

• Belize Tourism Board
• www.travelbelize.org
• Belize Tourism Industry Association
• www.btia.org

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Retired Persons Incentive Program

• Started in 1999
• 45 years or older
• Pension of at least 2000 US a month
• Pension deposited in Belizean bank
• Fee of 1350 - 750 for additional people
• Move belongings, car and boat duty-free
• Pay no taxes
• Cannot work

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Culin Ha Retirement Community
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Fer-de-lance Tommy Goff