And, as the PM said, there's no perfect time to re-open in the present
global climate. But many would argue, that with the US facing a major
spike in cases across 20 states - now is the worst time.
The Prime Minister explained that - apart from the nosedive in Belize's
economy - there were also other external factors that forced the
re-opening:
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow - Prime Minister of Belize
"I hear you that if we it appeared to be particularly dangerous to do
so at this time, when you don't expect, we don't expect a huge flow,
why don't we wait until November? Well two things, number one, we want
to send a signal, optics are important as well, remember that American
Airlines is saying, if you don't go for August 18th, we don't know when
you'll be able to go with us, we might suspend flights to Belize
indefinitely, so there's that. Also, just the fact that indeed, we are
not going to be expecting an overflow, a bum rush of tourists because
it is a slow season, because there are still the global travel
advisories, isn't the best time to go, so that we can as we are
proceeding, perfect the system, see where we are, start to model in
terms of what handles even with this trickle, which I think it will be
and then prepare for when indeed, we start getting a robust flow, so
that we will be in a better position to deal with that."
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