Caribbean and Latin America Outlook 2016

Caribbean and Latin America Outlook 2016: The Biggest Stories for The Year Ahead

Caribbean and Latin America 2016: What We're Watching in the New Year. Tourism Reckoning Ahead for Belize: Norwegian Cruise Line is expected to debut Harvest Caye, a $50 million private cruise development featuring a floating ship pier, an island village, a lagoon for water sports and a beach area, in February. Located off the coastal town of Placencia, the project has been kept close to the vest by Norwegian officials, although it’s expected to have a significant impact on tourism to Belize, whose intimate character is undergoing change amidst strong tourist arrivals growth. Harvest Caye’s debut will boost the country’s already strong cruise sector growth. Despite lacking a dedicated ship pier and terminal, Belize is on the verge of becoming the eighth Caribbean Tourism Organization destination to exceed one million annual cruise ship visitors. Belize hosted 986,131 cruise passengers in 2014, an explosive 42.9 percent increase over the 677,350 cruise vacationers hosted in 2013. Despite a slowdown in 2015, Belize’s land-based tourism has also surged in recent years. Last year Belize recorded 321,217 land-based, overnight visitors, a 9.2 percent increase over 2013. While the 101,747 tourist arrivals hosted between January and March represents a slight 1.1 percent increase over 2014, the country is still considered on track to continue as a fast-growing Caribbean travel destination. Indeed in September Dean Barrow, Belize’s prime minister, said the government would seek to build a new international airport on Ambergis Caye, one of the country’s top off-shore island destinations. The question for Belize is how the transition to mass tourism will impact the once-sleepy exotic destination