BELIZE Eco-Tourism Gone Awry
Higinio, Egbert & Munt, Ian
"Eco-terrorism at Hachet Cay" snapped a headline last year in the popu- lar Belizean weekly Amandala. The newspaper was taking umbrage at a U.S. resort owner who had allegedly blown up part of the...
...resort owner who had allegedly blown up part of the coral reef to make his resort more accessible to visiting boats...
...Although its supporters claim it is "an integrated and ecologically sound resort development," it will include the usual tourist sites: at least one international hotel, two "allinclusive spa hotels," three to five upscale lodges, two golf courses, town houses and villas, a thousand luxury homes, polo fields and stables...
...p. 10...
...The govern- ment has established a range of nature, marine and archaeological reserves to ensure that tourist attractions are wellmaintained...
...Touted as a major contribution to re-investing in the Belizean people-a reflection of the 1989 election pledge "Belizeans First," A. 9the government bought back the northem two-thirds of the 20,000-acre Ambergris Caye from its U.S...
...Instead, a development corporation was created by legislation unbeknownst to the Authority...
...The episode also illustrates how the original vision of eco-tourism-as small-scale, locally controlled, and ecologically sensitive-is beginning to erode...
...Such a development will transform the seafront district into a vacation pied-uy-terre for Sandy Beach Lodge, an "eco-tourist" campground...
...Belize City's planning department first came in con- tact with the scheme when a threedimensional model appeared in the window of Brodies, a city supermarket...
...Tourism was further boosted with the return to power in 1989 of the People's United Party (PUP), a nationalist, and like its political rival-from which it is now indistinguishable-pro-U.S...
...These efforts are beginning to pay dividends...
...Although previ- ously opposed to tourism, the PUP, eager to capitalize on this new trend in vacation travel, placed tourism second on its agenda of economic priorities...
...that is, it endeavors to preserve the now highly prized local flora and fauna and to promote the sense of natural andcultural authenticity which the eco-tourist seeks...
...Belize and Belizeans," as Amandala's editor concludes from the Hatchet Caye debacle, "are beginning to be trampled in the rush by those who regard our laws and traditions as inconvenient at best, and our sovereignty as theirs...
...For the time being, Belize confidently reaffirms its commitment to ecotourism and basks in the warm praise it has received from the international community for pursuing this approach...
...Before the 1983 election victory of the right-of-center United Democratic Party (UDP), tourism received little government support...
...The U.S.AID-initiated Belize Tourism Industry Association, an umbrella group representing private interests, faced turmoil duringthe 1992election of officers, when disputes erupted among members over whether seats on its committee should be restricted to Belizeans, even though 65% of the membership are expatriates...
...Despite some promising results, much eco-tourism in Belize merely replicates the problems characteristic of traditional mass-tourism-foreign-exchange leakage, foreign ownership and environmental degradation...
...He reiterated this stance in his speech at the Rio Earth Summit, assuring his audience that "community-based eco-tourism" forms the government's main marketing and development thrust...
...On the surface, Belize would seem to have high-brow appeal to these new middle-class travelers anxious to distance themselves-both physically and socially-from the standard tourist...
...Just two days before the contract was set to be signed, Godfrey presented the document to the ACPA for the first time, claiming that negotiations-to which the ACPA was not a party-had proceeded over two years...
...Not only do ordinary Belizeans stand to gain little from this up-scale project but, to add insult to injury, local representatives were not even consulted during the planning process...
...This expatriate community has become a resolute and well-represented lobby...
...Sensing a change in the type of vacations that Westerners were demanding, and the emergence of a new "greener" market niche, the UDP started to promote tourism as a way to earn much-needed foreign exchange and to further economic development...
...Such activi- ties, however, may have to be cut back in other neighborhoods in order to free up the necessary funds...
...But it is far from clear that Belize has successfully resisted the "seductions of mass tourism" as Godfrey claims...
...As foreign control of both small and large tourism enterprises increases, and as larger tourism-development proposals surface that will inevitably wreak irreparable damage on the environment, tourism in Belize appears to be spinning out of control...
...In this city of 60,000 where the government is strapped for money and poverty is increasing, the U.S...
...A case in point is the proposed multi-million-dollarBelize City Tourism District project, which will no doubt involve the capital of foreign developers, or large-scale borrowing from U.S.-dominated lend- ing institutions like the World Bank...
...The number of international tourists to Belize has risen steadily from fewer than 100,000 in 1985, to a quarter of a million by 1990...
...citizens...
...consultants lauded the scheme for allowing the city council to "concentrate its resources" on the upkeep of the district, including cleaning and road maintenance...
...The Community Baboon Sanctuary at Bermudian Landing and the Sandy Beach Women's Cooperative run by local Garifuna women at Hopkins Village in the South are two projects which have taken the government's cue...
...Today Westerners are seeking out alternative tourisms variously called appropriate, sustainable, and eco-what the Caribbean commentator Auliana Poon terms "new tourism...
...The widespread media coverage and public outrage over the incident reflect Belizeans' new awareness of environmental issues in the wake of what the U.S.-based Eco-tourism SociEgbert Higinio is assistant supervisor at the School of Continuing Studies at the University of the West Indies in Belize...
...Revenue from the tourism industry is estimated to account for about 26% of the Belizean GNP...
...Conservation and therefore eco-tourism," Godfrey told a receptive audience at an ecology and tourism symposium in Costa Rica at the time of the Ambergris Caye controversy, "thrives best where the sunlight penetrates to the lowest levels of autonomous local and community government...
...The government's strategy is premised upon the concept of sustainability...
...The Ambergris Caye controversy, for example, has raised serious doubts about the scale and nature of tourism development...
...Underlining the country's key position in the eco-tourism wave, Belize has hosted two international conferences-the First Caribbean Eco-tourism Conference, and the First World Congress on Tourism and the Environment [see "Like Any Other Business...
...Similar projects are sprout- ing up elsewhere...
...Under the guise of the corporation, appointed by and answerable to the Tourism and Environment Minister Glenn Godfrey (who is also attorney general), a $50-million "sustainable development" has been proposed...
...When the government acquired the Pinkerton Estate, we were told in no uncertain terms that we were getting back control of the land and meaningful participation...
...Belize also boasts part of the impressive archaeological legacy of the ancient Maya civilization-- now a major draw within the regional Ruta Maya...
...Although the ACPA managed to temporarily stave off the signing of the contract, the incident illustrates that with large-scale development projects, local control is compromised, if not absent entirely...
...Powerful Expatriates Much of the tourism industry is already in the hands of the country's small, but powerful expatriate community, estimated to number 1,500...
...To me, 75% to foreigners and 25% to Belizeans is not fulfilling this promise...
...Elsewhere in Belize, the lure of the tourism dollar is causing equally dismaying results and raising questions about whether the term "eco-tourism" is now being indiscriminately applied to any tourist project in an attractive natural setting...
...Expatriate riverside eco-lodge owners in the western Cayo District, for example, have demanded strict zoning laws against further tourist development...
...and freemarket-oriented party...
...Eco-tourism is the new rage in vaca- tion travel...
...publicationBelize Currents claims: "own your own piece ofparadise...Prices start as low as $9,950...Values are starting to soar...
...Half of the 20,000 acres have been put aside-at least for now-for conservation, and 2,500 acres are earmarked for Belizeans...
...VOLUME XXVI, NUMBER 4 (FEBRUARY 1993) U/) oi, S would-be eco-tourists, who presumably will feel safe and protected there from the urban problems that have become legendary in guidebooks to Belize...
...Local people are enraged, however, by the transfer of the remaining 7,500 acres to the U.S...
...It has also encouraged local communities to tap into the tourism potential...
...Belize has tried to earn foreign exchange by marketing small-scale, culturally authentic, ecologically sensitive tourist packages...
...New Orleans-based architects have completed a U.S.AID-sponsored initial study for this waterfront-style regeneration project...
...The planners hope to build an exclusive downtown area complete with new hotels and shopping facilities, a promenade with seafront restaurants and cafes, an ethnic crafts and food market, and a marina for small yachts cruising the Caribbean...
...Most expected the newly established Ambergris Caye Planning Authority (ACPA) to have its jurisdiction and planning powers extended over the Pinkerton Estate, as the area was formerly known...
...Instead, Belizean control is being sold off to the highest bidder...
...This former colony of British Honduras, which gained its independence in 1981, is blessed with abundant natural endowments, among them a stunning barrier reef (second only to Australia's REPORT ON THE AMERICAS 8+ tracts of tropical rainforest, and idyllic tropical island cayes...
...developer as part of the deal, and by the way the government attempted to foist this megacontract on the Caye...
...demanded Fidel Ancona, a furious member of the ACPA...
...Tired of being chaperoned through staged cultural experiences, cocooned from the realities of everyday life, and complicit in ecologically destructive vacations, eco-tourists are looking for new lesser visited, out of the way destinations...
...Yet, until recently, this small, officially English-speaking Caribbean nation along Central America's Atlantic coast was visited by few, and faced mini- mal environmental threats...
...As an advertisement for Ambergris Caye's Club Caribbean in the U.S...
...ety has coined the "Eco-tourism Revo- lution...
...lan Munt is an independent researcher/ writer based in London, England...
...In a nutshell, the Ss of oldstyle mass tourism-sun, sea and sand-are out...
...More significantly, among the 43%who registered as Belizeans were many expatriate North Americans...
...The dream is fading of a Belizean-controlled industry in tune with the local environment and cultural traditions...
...A new international airport terminal now greets arriving visitors, and a number of luxury hotels-including the Royal Reef Ramada-have recently been built in Belize City...
...In tune with the growth of new social movements concerned with environ- mental and cultural issues, these visitors are demanding vacations in pristine environments with "uncorrupted" local culture...
...If the proposed agreement for the development of North Ambergris Caye is so good, why not let the people know...
...Old Tourism in New Clothes...
...Erlet Cater, a delegate at the eco-tourism conference in 1991, found that 25% of the registered delegates were U.S...
Vol. 26 • February 1993 • No. 4
