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But, the question is will the Cruise companies be satisfied? They're the ones who have to answer to guests complaining about the Belize City destination. Today representatives of the two major cruise lines and the president of the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association went on a tour of the new zone and 7news was there:….

Jules Vasquez Reporting
The team from the FCCA was led through the fort George Tourism Zone today by BTB staff, principally TPU coordinator Nigel Martinez who explained to the group from Carnival Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean, and the FCCA how the new zone works and what's the vision for the future.

Christy Mastry, the Physical Planning Specialist of the Sustainable Tourism Programme explained the plan for the IDB funded tourism development project.

President of the FCCA Michelle Paige did have issues with the horse and buggy area questioning this buggy operator about how he handles the horses and visibly cringing at this horse's working conditions.

The group was taken through the passenger flow from the dispatch and information center to the craft market. And while the tour operators were just waiting for guests so were the taxi operators and Paige ambled over for an improvised meet and greet which turned into a lively repartee:

Michelle Paige, President FCCA
"You have to understand that when passengers are here, they don't understand what they want to do right away and if somebody they perceive is harassing them there is a good chance they might get back on the ship. When they say no - back off, because if not, they are going to feel very threatened and when they feel threatened they will not come and use your services. So let them walk around, be as courteous as you can."

Taxi Operator
"I have been meeting over and over people that come off the ship and they tell them on the ship don't come outside the gate because it's not safe, and if they want a tour they should buy it on the ship. They don't tell them there are licensed guys out here who can do same thing that they do on the ship."

Michelle Paige, President FCCA
"My friend we would never say that because if we ever say it wasn't safe we would be liable because we could not bring a ship to some place that wasn't safe."

Taxi Operator
"Well I am saying that's what the people are saying."

Michelle Paige, President FCCA
"A lot of information that's given to the passengers is from the crew, while we pay the crew to service the passengers we do not tell the crew what to say but we can't control the crew and that's one of the things that we all have to change - the perception. The perception of the crew is that the crew now feels comfortable to get off the ship. The crew now have things to do when they come to Belize. This is a big pie, what I suggest instead of cannibalizing each other let's grow the pie. There is enough work for everybody. Help us make money, we will help you make money. This is your director of Tourism, this is your Minister of Tourism, let me tell you, I've been working with Belize for probably 3 decades and I have never experienced the thrill of what I am experiencing now. You guys are on the right path, don't mess it up ok."

And while there were a few blemishes within sight, Page continued the praise when we spoke to her:

Michelle Paige, President FCCA
"Everything that we have seen has been a transformation because Belize has concentrated on what they feel is important to the satisfaction of your tourists - our passengers, so right now when a passenger gets off the vessel they feel a comfort feeling, a feeling of welcome and that's very important because if the passengers feel threatened the chances are that they will get back on to the ship."

And the Carnival rep Gordon Buck also found himself in consonance with the beat of Belize's drum

Gordon Buck, Carnival Corporation
"It's been six months since my last visit to Belize and I can't explain to you, there are not words enough to say how favorably impressed I have been today with the enhancements done in the tourism zone. It is like night and day it's wonderful."

Frederico Gonsalves Denton, Royal Caribbean
"I think Belize has a great product, it's a world known product and we are very much committed to bringing our guests to Belize. You should consider the cruise industry really like an export industry; we are bringing the consumer to you."

Jules Vasquez
"Will you all be recommending to your parent companies, your agents that Belize is improving, we should send more ships there?"

Frederico Gonsalves Denton, Royal Caribbean
"Really we go where our guests want to go and our guests continue to look at Belize as a great destination, we are going to continue serving the needs of our guests."

Cruise visitors to Belize for 2010 amounted to 762 thousand visitors, an increase of 8.1%. And as we close off our news on Cruise tourism tonight, we have a correction. Last night we reported that Cruise lines spend 155 million dollars on tenders in Belize annually; that should have been 15.5 million dollars.