And so while this big play is still going through the procedural paces - if we read more closely between the lines from the recent public statement by the Minister of Tourism Anthony Mahler, we'll see that - as recently as last night - he hinted that change has to come to cruise tourism - we have parted that with a statement he made two weeks ago:
Posted (August 26, 2024)
Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism
"In terms of cruise, we all know that we don't have a docking facility in Belize City and we're working towards that and that is why we have the decline in numbers because the bigger cruise lines don't come to Belize, they bypass Belize because they need a docking facility and tendering is not an option."
Posted (August 12, 2024)
Jules Vasquez
"Belize's cruise tourism future is still remains unclear because we still have no berthing facility for Icon class."
Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism
"It is unclear if you are looking at the sun without a shades, right? We have a clear path of how we want to go. I believe that it will all sort itself out within the next couple of months. We have had tremendous conversations with some of the bigger cruise lines. and we're looking at several options at this time, but I can almost 100% state that we will have a docking facility within the next few years."
Estimates tell us that with about two years and another 100 million dollars or so invested, stakeBank may be ready.
But we did recently also ask Mahler about Stake Bank itself. Here's what he said on August 12th.:
Posted (August 12, 2024)
Jules Vasquez
"There's still over $200 million dollars in the ground. Is the government looking at it?"
"There's word, there's talk that the government may compulsorily acquire the inner donut for the, or the outer donut, sorry for a public purpose, which would be to try to get some ships in while another bigger port..."
Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism
"I prefer not to comment on that aspect. I believe that that will sort itself all out when the court cases are finished, and I wish the investors all the best."
Email
Print