BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Feb. 3, 2022– In less than two weeks the Ministry of Tourism is set to implement mandatory travel insurance on overnight visitors entering the country. In early January, 13 major hotels and one airline wrote to the Minister of Tourism, Hon. Anthony Mahler, to protest the proposed mandatory travel insurance. In their letter, they called the travel insurance another tax for the government and said it was untenable, given the struggling tourism industry.
Those protesting the insurance said it would create more hassle for travellers who plan to come to Belize, and it will lead them to go to competing destinations. The letter states, “It places our industry at a disadvantage with our international competitors and may present a drop in reservations. This may also lead to a further reduction in jobs and indeed GoB foreign currency and tax dollar income from our viable export product.”
These major hotels, 15 in total reported by local media, are clamoring for the government to revisit its position. “In short,” their letter states, “we would like GOB to retract this proposal and allow incoming guests to choose their insurance vendors as they have been doing successfully up to now, with local insurance options. Backed up by data, we know that hospitalization has decreased dramatically for the vaccinated, which means they ought to have the option of visiting Belize without an insurance policy.”
In an interview this week with Tourism Minister, Anthony Mahler, he outlined that the policy seeks to protect travellers, and the smaller hotels which make up the majority of the accommodations landscape in Belize.
“We have looked at this thing for some time; we were in a position where Omicron was raging all over the place, there were a lot of cancellations, and so we are trying to help to protect the industry. We have almost 900 hotels throughout this country and most of them are under 10 rooms. Most of them, after two years of being devastated by COVID are on the brink, and so we have to ensure that not only the big players survive, but also the small players. We are in constant communication with the Ministry of Health. There are many countries across the world that require insurance; that is the reality. I’ve spoken to ministers abroad who have that requirement as a part of the protocols for entering their country,” Minister Mahler said.
Travel insurance has been imposed in various Caribbean islands since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. In Aruba, all travellers are required to purchase COVID-19 travel insurance from the Government. The Bahamas also has included in the cost of their travel health visa, the cost to cover mandatory insurance from that country; and Jamaica has implemented the “Jamaica Cares” mandatory travel vaccine for all visitors entering the country.
The Belize Tourism Industry Association has come out in support of the travel insurance which is set to be implemented by February 15. Minister Mahler shared that the portal to purchase travel insurance will be up as early as next week, and reports of cancellations due to lack of accessibility would be looked into and addressed.
Recently, COVID-19 clusters were identified in cruise ships allowed to dock in Belize, and the group of concerned business persons in the tourism industry questioned why the travel insurance is not being imposed on them.
“We know that the previous three hospitalizations of covid patients came from cruise ships and yet when we posed the question to BTB and the Ministry, we were told that cruise tourism was not included in the immediate scheme and would be phased in later.
Why?” the letter from those protesting the mandatory travel insurance asked Minister Mahler.
Minister Mahler told media that the entities namely, The Lodge at Chaa Creek, Tropic Air, Victoria, House Resort, Blancaneaux Lodge, Turtle Inn, Hidden Valley Inn, El Pescador, Copal Tree, Chabil Mar Villas, San Ignacio Hotel, Blu Zen, Alaia Belize, Hamanasi resort and, Ramon’s village resort have already been responded to by his Ministry.