7 News Belize

FECTAB Fumes And Then Makes Friends
posted (October 5, 2018)
Last night, we told you how the Belize Tourism Board and the Belize City Council pumped the brakes and postponed what they were calling a "dry run" to move the small local tour operators from the FSTV to an area near the Marion Jones Stadium.

The idea is to ease the congestion outside of the tourism village. It first came up earlier this year when the former UDP City Council first floated it.

At the time, the local tour operators strenuously resisted it - and Mayor-to-be Bernard Wagner sided with the local tour operators.

But that's back when he was trying to get elected, and so those same tour operators were outraged when it appeared that he was going back on his word. This morning, FECTAB organized a press conference at the Radisson, to sending a resounding message that they will resist this change, if BTB and the Council tries to push the issue.

Here's what a few of the main speakers had to say:

David Almendarez - Member, FECTAB
"They were to do a trial run, they say, due to congestion, due to whatever information that they feel necessary. They're going to do a trial run to move us from Terminal 1, and put us at the Marion Jones Sporting Complex, something like that. It's not the first; it's not the second; it's not the third time the Belize Tourism Board has tried to get rid of the ordinary poor man's bread and butter. At one point in time, that cruise ship village used to feed a lot of us handsomely, good, so much so, that we quit our regular jobs, and we dedicated our lives to serve the cruise ship tourism industry. All of us are independent, none of us foreign funded. None of us are considered - they say that we are fighting for crumbs. And we are here to tell the BTB and the powers that be that we will not be moved, not a trial run. We will not get used to it. We will not run it 2 days and say that it's going good and fine and dandy for the powers that be."

Yhony Rosado - Member, FECTAB
"Thank you to the City Council for holding off on their press conference with BTB. Let's remind the City Council that BTB wanted to move us before they won the elections, and somehow, they showed them paper works that we're ready to move. And we're here today to tell this country, to tell this government, and to tell everyone that have a little bit of influence, not to move us from there. We're barely making anything, and if they move us from there, we will not make anything."

John Pollard - Big John Tours
"The time has come for us to stand up, gentlemen. We need to stand up. Even if it is being arrested, or anything else in that form, we need to be together. So, gentlemen, for me - and I guess for you guys also, we're not into that anymore. Nobody has been eating for the past month and a half going for 2 months. Nobody has been eating on the outside of terminal 1, terminal 2 from the pressure that is there."

Tom Greenwood - President, FECTAB
"Do not bend to the foreign power. They don't care. The only thing that they care about is that dollar that they can put into their pockets. We welcome investments, but not to crap on our heads. That doesn't happen. And I say, we shall not be moved. I'm going to be right out there, and if all of us have to lay down on the ground, the way you see it done in the states, lay down on the ground. The way a minister of politics right now is Deputy Prime Minister Patrick Faber, he laid down on the grounds of UB. They removed him by hand and foot. Well, I weigh 240 pounds, let them move me. We got to stand at some stage. I want to see them move Big John."

Interestingly, Deputy Mayor Oscar Arnold showed up to the press conference. That made him an easy target for the FECTAB's rage. They demanded an explanation from him, and here's what he had to say when he was given the mic:

Oscar Arnold - Deputy Mayor, Belize City Council
"As a responsible council, we came in, and we had to look at everything that was on the table, whatever was already in place, whatever was already in the making, some of them good, some of them bad. But, I think a lot of times the electorate is fed up with when you have a change, everything is cut and stopped, and then you start over, like you're re-inventing the wheel. This issue was one of them. When we met with the officials at the Tourist Board, they laid out their plans initially, and they wanted to have a go at it right away. Now, this is March, coming toward the end of the high season. And so, we said that we needed more time to digest this information. Mayor Wagner walked, and spoke to the individuals, because you're not the only ones that would have been affected. All those individuals who occupy the back street of Mirab, where Mirab is right now, are some of the individuals who would have been moved and re-located as well. From what we saw - and the documents from the consultations - it appeared that there was enough buy in from stakeholders that this thing should be done. My message to you today was when that concession was made, or the decision was made for the trial run to be done, it was on the basis that small tour operators, Belizean owned businesses, and Belizean tour operators would not be affected to the point where they would lose money. What I'm hearing here today is that that is a certainty. That is not a probability, but it is a certainty. As far as where this trial run will be, the mayor has shelved it until further consultation, until meaningful consultations will be done. And that is the position that the city has taken at this point in time."

Shortly after that, Arnold was confronted on what the tour operators interpret to be the duplicity from the Mayor on this issue. Here's that moment when tour operator John Pollard asked directly if the Mayor's original position was simply an election ploy:

John Pollard - Tour Operator
"This came back up, which was never to come back up! That's the problem because the Mayor said openly to everybody that you all aren't going anywhere! Hence it's the reason why people upset about the situation."

Oscar Arnold - Deputy Mayor, Belize City Council
"John - and I hear you, and we're not disputing that fact. But, what I'm saying is that consultations since then showed - and it excluded the people that are here, obviously - where there was 75% and 80%, but it included all the small vendors across all the area there behind Mirab, and that is how the numbers were made up. And so, it wasn't something where anyone was going back on any word."

As you heard, this proposed re-location of the local tour operators has been shelved until "meaningful consultations" have been held on it.

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