6 weeks ago, we showed you how the Attorney General and Transport Minister Edmond Castro managed to navigate out of a stand-off with the Belizean bus operators. The bus owners were pressing the Government to implement restrictions, which would limit the number of foreign-owned buses that can operate in Belize.
The local operators wanted the Government to implement a statutory instrument that would require these foreign operators to hand-off their passengers to a local operator at the border. The local operator would then proceed to transport these passengers to whatever part of the country they were traveling to. From the perspective of the local operators, these foreign-owned companies should not be allowed to exclude the local operator out of possible revenue-earning opportunities in their own country.
Well, after discussion with the operators and the tourism industry which would be impacted by the decision, the Government passed the SI and implemented the restrictions. But, all sides agreed that there would be a grace period in which the impact of these changes would be observed, and assessed to ensure that it has not negatively impacted the tourism industry.
So, the government, the bus operators, and the leadership of the Belize Hotel Association held a follow-up meeting today, which resulted in a slight adjustment to the SI, to accommodate the hoteliers. They have guests who have booked trips to Belize months in advance, and they use the buses from Mexico and Guatemala to get to Belize, which cuts transportation costs. The problem is that the SI could have caused these tourists to have a negative experience. Therefore, to simplify things for the hoteliers, the bus operators have agreed to ask the Government to make an amendment to the restrictions and allow the foreign buses to bring these types of tourists to Belize. It will only be for a few months, after which the full restrictions will return.
After today's meeting, Attorney General Michael Peyrefitte spoke with our colleagues from Plus TV News explain the amicable outcome of today's talks:
Hon. Michael Peyrefitte, Attorney General
"On the first time we met with the hoteliers and other stakeholders they had express an interest in people who had purchase charters and other tickets out of Guatemala 6 months in advance, so then clearly the new SI that was passed recently would have affected those people. These people got together and spoke with the local bus operators and they all came to an agreement that they would ask the government to amend the SI again to provide for a 6 month grace period where people who have chartered busses to leave from Guatemala or Mexico to come to a particular hotel in Belize. The busses would leave with Guatemalans, come to Belize, the busses would park at that hotel and then the busses would leave from that particular hotel back with these same people to Guatemala, for example. The bus operators have agreed that that is a good compromise for everybody and they have compromise for that. So for the next 6 months that is what they want."
"I indicated to them that if that is something that they all agree to, I have no personal problems with it, but I will still need to take it to cabinet, to the prime minister and to the minister of transport to get their approval and their instructions for me to draft the amendment. There is also an additional agreement in the SI. The busses that would be coming international in direct transit where you come to Belize City, that bus would be leaving to go back to Guatemala and to Mexico at 7:30pm at night. So those were the agreements we came to and its great news for the industry."
Thomas Shaw, the President of the Belize Bus Association, also shared the perspective of the local operators as to why they can understand the plight of the Hoteliers:
Thomas Shaw, President, BBA
"We held a meeting today and we came to an amicable solution whereas we are going to give this thing a 6-month grace period to work along with them. The problem was that when the SI was signed, they were not informed of what was actually taking place and stopping the international busses from coming in would have had a great impact on the hotel association, so that's where we sat with Mr. Ted Tejada and we agree that these people that were booked like 8 months or a year in advance, we were willing to give that a 6-month grace period and we have a smooth transition whereas after that the Belizean operators actually take over the ground work providing that we enhance the type of service that we have here presently."
Also, these talks have resulted in what could be a positive outcome, which could see the local operators working with the foreign-owned companies, instead of treating them as business adversaries who aren't to be trusted. The Hotel Association has agreed to arrange a sit-down between the local operators, and the bus operators out of the neighboring Central American countries. Here's how the President of the Association explained it to our colleagues from Plus TV:
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