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“Commodification” of the culture …

Letters“Commodification” of the culture …

August 24, 2013
Editor Sir,

This letter is written from the perspective of someone who has led many groups to Belize, teaches and researches in tourism at the university level, and cares about the well-being of Belize, its people and its natural resources. I would like to encourage all to please consider all the costs and benefits associated with the proposal to bring large cruise vessels to Southern Belize.

It seems that a simple cost benefit analysis does not make this a worthy project for Belize. The main benefits mentioned are job creation (the numbers fluctuate from different sources) infrastructure and the tourism head tax. From other destinations and research we know that the types of jobs created are low paying, seasonal and not necessarily for Belizeans. Tourists will spend money, and it might look like a lot at first glance, but the vast majority of this will leak back to the cruise lines and other multinational corporations like the vendors they use. So that money does not stay in the country.

Belize profits much more from overnight tourists that spend locally, and that money in turn actually gets multiplied in country. Cruise lines are for profit corporations; their only objective is to offer their clients attractive destinations with the goal to maximize their profits. The infrastructure that will be created will be largely cruise line owned and will make it hard for local vendors to get access to cruise passengers, and further help to bring any money spent outside of the ship back to the corporation.

The tourism head tax will bring in some money, but it is not in proportion to the costs associated with bringing large vessels to Southern Belize or even the head tax collected in other cruise destinations.

Roads will have to be renewed, parking lots expanded, as the ships get bigger. Facilities will have to be modified and so on. On the costs side of the equation, we have huge threats to the coral reef and marine environment; threats to the quality of life of people in Placencia and beyond; crowding; pollution; loss of habitat; leakage and inflation; standardization (as in everything looking the same around the world, same chain stores, etc.) and commodification of the culture (turning it into a product to be sold) and loss of authenticity of cultural practices.

And most importantly it will displace overnight ecotourists. This is probably the most important threat, because once a destination only attracts mass tourists, it is on the decline. This has happened in other destinations around the world. Belize will have to decide quickly if it wants to be an ecotourist destination or attract mass tourism via cruise ships and chain hotels. Both are not possible.

Sincerely,
Dr. Carolin Lusby

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