Economic Growth In Tourism

In today’s world, tourism is one of the major sources of revenue for many countries including Belize. Millions of people travel to other countries for vacation, health, and work purposes and spend billions of dollars daily. “Tourism is the marketing of the enjoyable and other leisure of a travel destination, and provision of facilities and services for the pleasure of travelers”. (Business Dictionary, 2017). A leisure industry such as tourism is a great source of income for developing countries such as Belize. Tourism in Belize has grown significantly recently, and it is now the second largest industry in the nation (Belize Development Trust, 1999). The growth in tourism has positively affected the economic growth, commercial, poverty rate,

Recent information published shows that the tourism industry accounted for 12.8% of employment in 2015 (BTB,2015). The industry continues to see heavy investments through government and private sectors in the infrastructure and service sector (Belize Tourism Board 2015). With the addition of the Harvest Caye Cruise line and Carnival Vista, BTB’s statistics for 2015 also revealed that cruise tourism successfully hit a record in cruise passenger arrivals, exceeding one million visitors. “Cruise tourism reflected growth with a 4.9% increase in arrivals in comparison to 2015 (BTB, 2015).” Evidence shows that the tourism industry is creating jobs for the citizens of Belize, and also the industry is generating income to Belize’s economy. As mentioned before 1.3 million tourists visited Belize in 2015, out of that number, the majority, 957,975 were cruise passengers and 341,125 were overnight

Recently, BTB hosted Olympian gold-medalist Simone Biles and her family. “Biles documented her vacation via social media, garnering much exposure for Belize.” (BTB 2017) Aside from Leonardo DiCaprio’s Blackadore Caye development, many celebrities have put the Jewel in the spotlight which is great news. These celebrities include Charles Michael Davis, Ben Flajnik and Oscar Générale. In 2017, Bollywood actress Nargi Fakhri vacationed for the New Year holidays on Ambergris Caye, while other celebrities like Drew Carey, James Franco and Alan Tudyk were spotted throughout the country. (Belize Travel & Tourism Economic Impact Report 2012") Miss Belize Rebecca Rath has also given Belize exposure through her journey to compete in the Miss Universe pageant, with her social media coverage gaining much publicity and fame in the months leading up to the contest. Belize has also been highlighted through the newspapers. In December 2016, “The Lodge at Chaa Creek in San Ignacio was featured in Vogue Magazine, while The New York Times listed ‘Belize’ in their annual list of 52 Places to go in 2017.” The more exposure that Belize receives it will encourage visitor to come in vast numbers and the exposure will also promote local and