Tour operators feel Carnival is boxing out locals in tourism industry
Belize Cruise Ships
Channel 5 Belize | Tourism numbers seem to be picking up after a slow season. The livelihood of hundreds depends on the industry and everyone is after a slice of the pie. So a contract awarded by Carnival Cruise Line to provide shore excursions has angered local operators who claim it is preferential treatment. The Federation of Cruise Tourism Associations of Belize contends that what should be a local business is being subverted by foreign interests. At the beginning of last month the organization wrote Director of Tourism, Seleni Matus on the matter of a contract that is currently held by Bakabush Tours and its overseas affiliate Chukka Caribbean Adventures based in Jamaica. Among the assertions is that FECTAB believes the Chukka group owns majority shares in Bakabush Tours which is registered to Tom and Yvette Wilson. On the issue of exclusivity where it regards the vending of merchandise onboard Carnival excursions, the letter goes on to say “this practice serves to crowd out the small vendors at the sites such as Altun Ha, Lamanai, Xunantunich, et cetera. The small vendors are considered the backbone of an economy; if that sector of the market diminishes so does the overall economy”. CEO in the Ministry of Tourism, Mike Singh, says the issue seems to be more about the quality of service being provided by Bakabush Tours as opposed to other competing operators.
Mike Singh, CEO, Ministry of Tourism
“There seem to be an issue where there is a group of local operators led by an organization called FECTAB which I believe is led by Mr. Tom Greenwood. They’ve had several meeting with us expressing a concern that they feel that there’s one particular operator which operates in Belize under the name Bakabush Tours.
That they feel that that operator through their partnership with a Jamaican operator which is called Chukka Tours, that they feel that they seem to be taking a larger pie in the tour market in Belize particularly in the portion where it is contracted directly with Carnival Cruise Line. That’s what the understanding I get from the meetings we’ve had with Mr. Greenwood and with a few other people that seems to be a part of his group. I know I think Mr. David Gegg attended one of the meetings and for some reason I think Mr. Troy Gabb, I don’t know that he’s in the tour business but he’s attended the meetings. They seem to be making a case that there has to be some kind of action taken by government to balance the scales in respect to the volume that’s being taken by Bakabush versus the volume by other operators. Frankly, I don’t believe that is the job of government to interfere with private business in particular with a foreign investor that’s investing with a local. Our records show that Bakabush is fifty-one percent Belizean owned. That is what has been submitted to the Belize Tourist Board. If there is something different than that I have yet to see it. We also feel that there’s certain things we can do to encourage an improvement in the local operators which is what we’ve been working on. The Belize Tourism Board has been pushing very hard for improvement in standards for instance. It is clear to me that the cruise lines certainly demand a higher standard. They demand more safety, in particular one of the more popular tours is the tour at Caves Branch which is the cave tubing tour and there’s a demand for accountability and safety in light of a fatality we had almost two years ago that actually cancelled that tour on the itinerary.”
According to Singh Carnival terminated its contract with the tour operator which offered cave tubing as part of its tour package but that the ministry through NICH made all efforts to upgrade several facilities in light of that fatality.
