Belize Airlift Development Conference Remarks by Hon. Anthony Mahler

Ministry of Tourism and Diaspora

Good morning,

It truly gives me great pleasure to be here today at this FIRST Airline Development Conference in Belize, and to be among such an esteemed group of experts and industry leaders. Thank you all for being here to share your knowledge and experiences with us today.

First, I would like to acknowledge two people who have worked tirelessly for a very long time to build airline capacity in Belize. Both of these men are tacticians in the world of aviation. They are ardent supporters of the direction that we have taken, and they have matched the efforts that we have brought from day one. Big, Big respect to Nikko and Anthony for the immense work that you both have put in. I would also like to acknowledge the Director of Tourism, Evan Tillett for his commitment to tourism and to Belize. Your work in our airline development, has been significant. Again, thank you Nikko, Anthony, and Evan for being the fuel that has reignited so much interest in our beautiful country.

According to the World Tourism Organization, nearly sixty percent (60%) of international travel is conducted via airplanes. This amounts to 4.5 billion travellers annually. For Belize, approximately eighty percent (80%) of all our guests arrive through the Phillip Goldson International Airport (PGIA). In 2019, we processed over four hundred thousand visitors at the PGIA. That is more than Belize’s total population.

Similarly, an estimated ninety percent of our international guests continue to their local destinations on domestic carriers via Maya or Tropic.

Simply put, airlift, which includes regional, domestic, and international flights, is the ‘lifeblood’ of the tourism industry. Air travel is indispensable where our tourism is concerned.

To phrase differently, the more we increase our airline capacity the more we will grow as a destination. Growth in our airlift capacity will undoubtedly lead to new developments in our hotel industry and other tourism-related infrastructure. Such an expansion will transition into more jobs for our people, and for certain increased international routes to Belize will surely mean that there will be more money circulating in our economy.

Rebuilding our airlift capacity is about growth. However, it is impossible to talk of our rebuilding efforts without mentioning 2020. During the Covid-19 Pandemic, the aviation industry fell off the cliff. By extension, tourism fell with it and in the early months of lockdown it appeared that we would all be left in our own ditches somewhere. During those very dark months, over ninety percent (90%) of aircraft had been grounded. It was the first time in the new millennium that we were witnessing such a global crisis.

In Belize, we lost almost