Opinion
Belize Officials Say Insurance Requirement May Deter Visitors
Belize’s new journey insurance coverage requirement for guests has not escaped criticism from some tourism stakeholders. Native legislators are questioning this system’s influence on journey to Belize because the Caribbean nation seeks to revive customer arrivals devastated by the pandemic.
In a press release, officers from Belize’s United Democratic Celebration (UDP) requested minister of tourism and diaspora affairs Anthony Mahler and Belize Tourism Board (BTB) officers to “make clear and supply extra data concerning the just lately imposed necessary Belize Journey Well being Insurance coverage for guests.”
Though they acknowledge different Caribbean nations have established journey insurance coverage necessities following the pandemic outbreak, UDP known as the $18 per-person cost for insurance policies offered by the Insurance coverage Company of Belize and underwritten by Munich Reid “tantamount to one more tax on guests coming to Belize.”
“The necessary insurance coverage could make Belize much less aggressive than different locations within the area, UDP officers mentioned, “which the nation merely can not afford in mild of customer arrival information for the primary 11 months of 2021 [at] 60 % underneath arrival figures for 2019.”
“We have now consulted with the personal sector associations and there have been combined responses,” Evan Tillett, Belize’s director of tourism, mentioned in a press release to TravelPulse.
“Nevertheless, we felt that the [travel insurance] proposed was in the most effective curiosity of the stakeholders, worldwide company and Belize,” mentioned Tillett. “We are going to proceed to evaluate the scenario and proceed to dialog with the trade when forging forward.”
Efficient February 15, all Belize guests will probably be required to use for the journey insurance coverage which offers for fee of as much as $50,000 in medical bills associated to remedy of COVID-19 for vacationers who check optimistic throughout their keep.
Approved underneath Belize’s public well being rules, the insurance policies additionally present as much as $2,000 for quarantine bills and emergency help companies together with air evacuation, plus emergency bills associated to pre-existing circumstances.
The insurance policies additionally cowl journey cancellations and bills incurred by COVID-19 optimistic vacationers requiring prolonged stays. Vacationers could buy Belize Journey Well being Insurance coverage on-line previous to their journey or upon arrival on the Philip Goldson Worldwide Airport.
Belize recorded 1.67 million worldwide customer arrivals in 2019, in keeping with United World Tourism Group and BTB information. The nation’s mixed land-based and cruise ship guests plummeted to 487,222 as throughout pandemic-stricken 2020. Belize’s land and cruise guests every fell by greater than 70 % that 12 months, in keeping with Caribbean Tourism Group information.
In lieu of the necessary journey insurance coverage, UDP officers moreover proposed incoming vacationers present proof of current journey insurance coverage upon arrival, “choose in” for Belize’s insurance coverage insurance policies or signal a legal responsibility waiver. “Except completely essential, we must always keep away from implementing necessary insurance policies that can serve to discourage journey to Belize,” they added.
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