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It's a measure of relief for a suffering Hotel Association having to adjust to lower traffic and much higher standards. This morning we spoke to Hotel Association President Ted Tejada who says that while the airport remains closed, hotels are making themselves more open than ever to domestic tourism.

Ted Tejeda, President, Belize Hotel Association
"As you know the prime minister has allowed us to open hotels as of this week. The borders are still closed. They are not scheduled to open anytime soon to be honest but we are inviting our local Belizeans to travel and get to see the properties that we have. The amenities that Belize has as a country but to be honest what we are encouraging all our hotels to do especially members of the Belize hotel association devise a rate, there are a lot of hotels that have retained their employees and that is very hard to sustain without any business. So there are Belizeans that have been locked down for many days that are ready to get out and visit these attractions. And as we know today is the 29th day without a case, more than likely there is none of us that are infected."

"We are ready to travel so give us an opportunity to give us a rate, maybe include breakfast while we are staying at your property so that we can enjoy it because the minute we enjoy it we become your ambassadors we become the best ambassadors there are. So the hotel association again is getting the rates from all the properties, all the properties that are willing to happen, and loading them on a BHA page by the end of this week so that Belizeans can get to enjoy our same properties in the country."

"Going forward as of today it's not going to be the same as it was yesterday especially in terms of cleanliness. The first question that any guest is going to be asking or looking at your website for is, how clean is your hotel? How are you maintaining the cleanliness of your hotel so we have brought in one of our maids here, Marlene and as of today this is how they need to dress. They will need to wear a mask they will need to wear gloves before going into a room. No longer would they go to a room without any protective gear because we do not know. The person who has checked into your hotel if that person is bringing COVID-19 into the property."

"When you pass at the front desk you will see now that we have a sneeze guard to protect the agent at the front desk. The agent at the front desk has a mask. We will also be taking the temperatures of guests."

"The Belize hotel association believes that we do not have to hide our smile behind a mask so what we have done is created a mask with a smile. These masks are available at the Belize Hotel Association, any individual can purchase it and they can also put their logos on the mask so that the guest can see your smile through a cloth in front of your face."

Tejada also discussed measures for preventing the re-introduction of COVID-19 once foreign nationals can be allowed to visit Belize. The hope is to secure much needed rapid tests by July 2nd. The absence of those tests would mean an even longer hiatus for international tourism in Belize.