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Courtney Menzies spoke to some of those who will be working this Christmas and has this story.

Belizeans across the country are getting ready to celebrate Christmas - whether it be a dinner tonight or lunch tomorrow. That celebration also includes unwrapping gifts, sipping on rumpopo, and enjoying a day off from work.

But not everyone gets the last part - industries like the tourism and hospitality sectors keep pushing throughout the holidays. It's one of their busiest times of the year, and according to long time tour operator, Yhony Rosado, the work doesn't stop.

Yhony Rosado, Tour Operator
"The cruise tourism, or tourism in itself, doesn't have holidays. When they book you, when they want you, you have to move. Very nice, very happy, very fast. If you don't move fast and happy you don't get the tip, probably you might get fired from whatever hotel, resort or cruise industry you're working in. So the cruise industry itself is very tough because when everybody is celebrating with families, with the ham and the turkey and the wine and the beers and the celebration, even with the beers and the celebration, even if you're Christian just celebrating in the church, you cannot do that, you have to come and work because they work all the holidays, Boxing Day, Christmas Day, 24th, 25th we have work."

And while they willingly wake up at the pre-dawn hours and head out to the Tourist Village, it's still disheartening when three ships come in, but they only see a trickle of tourists.

Yhony Rosado, Tour Operator
"A lot of this is not working for this anymore. If you look at that chart right there, we have our pricing list which is not working no more because the tourists themselves are not paying for it. But all in all we've been adjusting to it. My wife already knows once we have calls on the 24th, I leave my family, the guys have to leave their wives, their kids. I have a guy who just had a baby last night and is all the way from Corozal, I told him don't worry, there's not many jobs anyway. We don't have much work like before, especially on the outside. Maybe on the inside, the pre-booked tours, but we on the outside, it's not looking beautiful."

Courtney Menzies:
"Would you say Christmas Day is the day you can make probably the most you'll make for the rest of the year?"

Yhony Rosado, Tour Operator
"That is what keeps us going, that wakes us up because we believe some tourists, some group, some family member will come and, they're nice, the tourists have always been nice all over the world, not only in Belize. If you go to France and Brazil, you hear tourists take their best family, their best tips, and their best money on that day so we believe and we're hoping to make a good tip and a good payday on Christmas Day, that's why we come out here, that's why we believe in the industry."

"Most of the times when we announce that they have three or four ships, It doesn't benefit the city of Belize nor the industry outside nor inside, it just benefits one or two operators."

But it's different for the hotel industry - particularly in Belize City. General Manager at the Belize Biltmore Plaza, Ted Tejada, told us that most of their guests this time of year are Belizeans living in the diaspora who come back home.

And like the tour operators, they must ensure the needs of the guests are met throughout the season.

Ted Tejada, GM, Best Western Plus Belize Biltmore Plaza
"It is difficult, one of the things that we do upon hiring, we do interview our employees and tell them that we're working in hospitality where we work 365 days of the year, 24 hours. So they know if they're signing their name to a hotel, to a restaurant, more than likely, we are never going to close even for Easter or Valentines, we don't have a date that we can close down the hotel. This time of the year is when people are looking for hotels to stay at because they want to spend time with their family and we have to tend to them, they're our customers, what we do for a living."

"We do tend to ration is over the years, we look at how many holidays we have, so if this month you work, next year you're not going to be working, we just ration it among the employees so everybody gets a holiday within the year to benefit with their family."

He explained that it's a balancing act of serving customers and making time for family:

Ted Tejada, GM, Best Western Plus Belize Biltmore Plaza
"Last year we had a wedding on the 24th, I think that was the most difficult one that we accepted because at midnight people want to be home with their kids opening the presents, at midnight is when they were toasting with the bride and the groom. It was very difficult to see your staff trying to be at home, doing a video call with their family while tending to their families so we do allow that phone call at midnight to their families and we do provide a little bit of ham and turkey for them for dinner so that they can feel that Christmas love during that time of the year."

But according to the bistro's cashier, they do get to make up the time missed.

Vivica Perez, Cashier, Biltmore Bistro
"We don't work all day, we tend to rotate between, if I work in the morning, I usually spend the night with my family, or if I work night I get the Christmas morning with my family and it's a rotation, you either work Christmas or New Year's we rotate it."

"I do enjoy working on holidays and I get enough time, in my opinion, I get enough time to go home, I manage to get it to schedule my time with family and friends."

"I work in a restaurant, I love when people get their food, you know people are always happy after they have eaten."

Courtney Menzies:
"So you're anticipating tomorrow when everybody gets to enjoy that ham and turkey?"

Vivica Perez, Cashier, Biltmore Bistro
"Yes we've gotten quite a few reservations for tomorrow, people like coming out for Christmas."

And while New Year's Eve is a little calmer at the Biltmore Plaza since there are no major events planned, for the tour operators, the grind continues.

Courtney Menzies:
"Do you guys work on New Year's Day too?"

Yhony Rosado, Tour Operator
"That is the hard one. We work on New Year's Day, all beat up, all bleach up, because we celebrate New Year's all over the world and we have to go to sleep at 1:00, 2:00 and get up 6:00, 5:00 to get to work. Yes we do, that is the most challenging day of our industry, the New Year's Day. The tourists book you to do a tour, your family books you to go to them to a restaurant, and then the tourists next day coming to do our jobs."

But for tourism stakeholders - whether it's the operators or the hoteliers - they know that once the sign up for the job, well, they'll be working as hard as Santa.