FITUR 2023: Belize Now Stands at the Helm of CATA

In a brief ceremony held Thursday at IFEMA Madrid, within the framework of FITUR 2023 in Spain, Belize took over the helm of the Central America Tourism Agency (CATA), handed by the Dominican Republic that served a six-month stint as pro tempore president of the organization.

Shortly before the ceremony, Caribbean News Digital sat down with the Honorable Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism and Diaspora Relations of Belize, who shared his views about the road ahead for both CATA and his country.

“Over the next six months we hope to learn from the members now that we are going to be at the helm of CATA,” Mr. Mahler said at the top of this interview, hoping that only true regional integration with a focus on sustainable development can get the job done for Belize during this tenure.

“We want to add cooperation for training and I believe if we land more air connectivity towards the region, including Belize, that would be a great win for our country,” he went on to say. 

He explained that airlift is a must for Belize at a time when only Copa and TACA fly to the English-speaking Central American nation right now. However, he said that local carrier Tropic Air covers routes to Honduras, El Salvador, Cancun and other destinations they would like to expand to.

When it comes to regional travel, Belize gets many visitors from neighboring countries, mainly from Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador, and some from Panama as well, a reason why more airlift from Tropic Air and other airlines is a must.

Belize is best known for its tropical beauty and outdoor adventures. The hundreds of cays and coral islands are also among the best places to visit in Belize, with their stunning beaches and world-class diving sites.

The largest of Belize’s several hundred islands, Ambergris Caye, is a dreamy, tropical place where shorts and flip-flops are the dress code, golf carts are the mode of transportation, and lazing away on sandy white beaches is the primary activity.

A short plane flight or ferry ride from Belize City, Ambergris Caye is one of the best places to visit in Belize because it presents the ultimate Caribbean getaway with classic beaches, world-class accommodations, fabulous dining and ultra relaxation.

A long, narrow peninsula of sandy white beaches hugging Belize’s Caribbean coastline, Placencia is a popular destination for beach lovers and outdoor enthusiasts. Placencia comprises the three villages of Maya Beach, Seine Bight and Placencia Village. The most popular attraction in Placencia Village is the paved pedestrian path known as “The Sidewalk,” a strip lined with shops and numerous bars and restaurants.

Promoting all that much and more is what Belize has come to FITUR 2023 for.

“We've come to this fair to learn, even though we have been doing this fair for a long time. We want to make the connections with the right people to ensure we have more Europeans coming to Belize,” he said. 

“One of the things that we've been doing here is talking to the European airlines because we don"t have a direct flight from Europe to Belize yet, so we are working really, really hard to ensure that within the next couple of years we will have a direct flight from either Amsterdam or London or Switzerland, or maybe from some part of Spain or even from Germany,” he said.

When asked about the role Belize is about to play at the helm of the Central America Tourism Agency, Mr. Mahler had this to say:

“This organización has been around for some time and we have set our goals. True regional integration will be good for the region and I want to look at airlift as a unifying body as well; as a unifying group, and we also want to take a look at some training and some marketing initiatives as we move forward. You can't accomplish this much in just six months, but if you have targeted goals and you go after them, you can attain some results”, Mr. Mahler concluded.