Belize: Tourism Sector Policy Note

This document is an input to the IDB country strategy with Belize for the period 2008-2012. The tourism sector in Belize has evolved considerably since the Bank's original support to the sector in 1998 for the first National Tourism Strategy. The advent of cruise ships has led to almost a five-fold increase in the annual number of visitors and a cruise ship port is now under consideration. New products and niches such have cave-tubing and adventure tourism have diversified the country's tourism offer. Time shares and condominiums are being built at several locations along the coast and cayes. Under these circumstances, policy issues today are very distinct to those that existed a decade ago. After a brief introductory review of the sector's performance, this note presents several of the issues relevant to the policy dialogue between the Government of Belize and the Bank.