Press Release – Belize Tourism Board –  The increase of arrivals into Belize in the year 2012 has continued into the start of 2013. January numbers are in, and overnight tourists have increased by 17.2% compared to last year’s statistics. A total of 28,431 overnight tourists were recorded in the first month of this year- an increase of 4,168 compared to January 2012.

Arrivals at the Phillip Goldson International Airport were up as well, showing 7.6% higher than last year’s January arrivals. Our records show that 19,965 passengers disembarked at the PGIA in the last month, making it 1,407 more than January 2012.

Cruise arrivals are up by a “whopping” 19.4% for this year’s January, compared to January 2012. The year started with off with 102,871 tourist arrivals via cruise, an increase of 16,743 from last year’s January.

About the Belize Tourism Board

The Belize Tourism Board (BTB) is a statutory body within the Belize Ministry of Tourism and Culture, and it is governed by a Board of Directors appointed by the Minister of Tourism and Culture. The BTB works in conjunction with members of the private sector – including the Belize Hotel Association, Belize Tourism Industry Association and Belize National Tour Operators Association – and is dedicated to building tourism in the most economically and environmentally sustainable manner. As a part of its responsibilities, the BTB promotes Belize as a premier tourism destination to both in-country and international consumers. Among its outreach to the international travel market, the BTB markets the country’s unique attractions to travellers, members of the travel trade industry and media outlets in key markets.

Several Belizean tourism properties have received recognition in TripAdvisor’s 2013 Traveler’s Choice Awards. Belize.com Managing Director M.A. Romero extends congratulations to all the country properties honored. “This is proof of the hard work and dedication to the tourism product by the industry even in the face of a challenging environment of competition from neighboring countries and the rising cost of doing business in Belize. The recognition awarded is well deserved, and helps to show how much Belizeans pride themselves on quality service. We have surpassed many countries in our region and rank highly alongside some of the largest around the world.” Belize.com is the leading Independent Travel Guide to Belize and produces its own Best Belize and Hotels Directory.

Even though TripAdvisor has lost points in recent years over the belief in some quarters that its ratings are lacking, the scores do serve a useful function in placing hotels in a ballpark range of good properties. While TripAdvisor “does a good job for a lot of people, its popularity index can be easily and significantly manipulated,” claims Chris Emmins of Kwikchex, a British reputation management firm. The TripAdvisor Choice awards now in their 11th year, select the top 25 hotels in various categories. Fodor’s Belize Travel Writer Lan Sluder for his part commented on an online travel forum that “These awards are well-deserved, but I do think TripAdvisor this year missed some other great places in Belize.”

Belize dominated in the categories of “Top 25 Small Hotels in Central America” and “Top 25 Hotels for Service in Central America.”

The results are as follows:

Top 25 Small Hotels in Central America

1    Hamanasi Adventure and Dive Shop – Hopkins, Belize

2    Pelican Reef Villas Resort – San Pedro, Belize

3    The Phoenix Resort – San Pedro, Belize

4    Coco Plum Island Resort – Dangriga, Belize

7    Turneffe Flats – Turneffe Islands, Belize

9    Chabil Mar – Placencia, Belize

10  Xanadu Island Resort Belize – San Pedro, Belize

18  Turneffe Island Resort – Turneffe Islands, Belize

19  Matachica Beach Resort – San Pedro, Belize

22  Belcampo Lodge – Punta Gorda, Belize

24  Pook’s Hill Lodge – Belmopan, Belize

25  Maya Beach Hotel – Placencia, Belize

A total of 12 Belize properties were awarded, giving Belize 48% of the total.

Top 25 Hotels for Service in Central America

1    Hamanasi Adventure and Dive Shop – Hopkins, Belize

2    The Phoenix Resort – San Pedro, Belize

5    Pelican Reef Villas Resort – San Pedro, Belize

6    Chabil Mar – Placencia, Belize

11  Coco Plum Island Resort – Dangriga, Belize

15  El Pescador Resort – San Pedro, Belize

16  Black Rock Lodge – San Ignacio, Belize

17  Xanadu Island Resort Belize – San Pedro, Belize

18  Mystic River Resort – San Ignacio, Belize

21  Pook’s Hill Lodge – Belmopan, Belize

24  Athens Gate – San Pedro, Belize

A total of 11 Belize properties were awarded, giving Belize 44% of the total.

Other Central American categories were:

Top 25 Hotels in Central America

5    Victoria House – San Pedro, Belize

8    Coco Beach Resort – San Pedro, Belize

10  Grand Caribe Belize Resort and Condominiums – San Pedro, Belize

11  Las Terrazas Resort – San Pedro, Belize

Top 20 Luxury Hotels in Central America

1    The Phoenix Resort – San Pedro, Belize

7    Las Terrazas Resort – San Pedro, Belize

9    Turtle Inn – Placencia, Belize

10  Blancaneaux Lodge – Cayo District, Belize

12  Kanantik Reef & Jungle Resort – Stann Creek, Belize

Top 25 Bargain Hotels in Central America

3    Colinda Cabanas – Caye Caulker, Belize

8    Villa Verano – Hopkins, Belize

15  Captain Jak’s Cabanas – Placencia, Belize

18  Pook’s Hill Lodge – Belmopan, Belize

19  Hopkins Inn – Hopkins, Belize

24  Clarissa Falls Resort – San Ignacio, Belize

Top 25 Small Hotels in the World

2    Hamanasi Adventure and Dive Resort – Hopkins, Belize

16  Pelican Reef Villas Resort – San Pedro, Belize

20  The Phoenix Resort – San Pedro, Belize

Top 25 Hotels for Service in the World

5    Hamanasi Adventure and Dive Resort – Hopkins, Belize

Belize.com extends enormous congratulations to all winners.

Travel Writer Lan Sluder On TripAdvisor Ratings

TripAdvisor is very helpful, but we have to be aware that it can be gamed to a certain extent, by both owners (owners of a large condo property especially can put up a lot of positive reviews) and negatively by competitors.

Also, and this is a personal bias, TripAdvisor ratings and reviews are mostly by people who have only stayed or eaten in a few places in a destination like Belize. The reviewers really don’t have much with which to compare one place, especially hotels and resorts, to another in the same area or country. By contrast I’ve stayed in maybe 150 to 200 hotels in Belize, and although you might disagree with my opinions and preferences, or that of other travel writers or frequent visitors to Belize, you can sort of figure out what I like and don’t like and factor in my biases.

More important, TripAdvisor is not transparent. No one knows the algorithms they use to rate and rank hotels and restaurants. A hotel or restaurant with just a few reviews, but very positive ones, can quickly zoom to near the top of the rankings. And sometimes a hotel or restaurant with a lot of five-star ratings loses out to ones with lower rating but more reviews.

I’ve noticed, for example, that very inexpensive places, like ice cream shops and bakeries, often are among the highest ranked “restaurants” in many cities. In part that’s because they attract a lot of customers who can afford a couple of bucks for a sweet roll or a scoop of ice cream and then write a review, whereas a sophisticated upscale place may not get that many customers because of the price.

Another factor, which I didn’t realize until I was talking with my young adult kids recently, is that TripAdvisor seems to attract more tourists and older people who do ratings than, say, Yelp, which attracts more locals and probably more young people. My son, for example, who lives in Boston, says he and his friends rely on Yelp and rarely even look at TripAdvisor for restaurants in Boston, but he does use TripAdvisor when traveling in Asia, Europe or Latin America.

That issue is probably less important for Belize or other travel destinations. Belize gets virtually zero TripAdvisor reviews by Belizeans or Belize residents and , but it gets a lot of reviews from travelers, and I don’t know if there’s even a Yelp for Belize.

In the case of the Travelers’ Choice awards, I suspect (but don’t know for sure) that it’s stacked in favor of more-visited countries and larger hotels and resorts. As I noted, the majority of winners in Central America were in Costa Rica, which gets the most foreign tourists in the region, nearly 10 times as many as Belize. So naturally it’s going to get a lot of votes.

The 23rd running of the KREM New Year’s Day Cycle Race had some 70 male elite and female riders taking part in the second biggest cycling event of the year after the Holy Saturday Cycle Classic. In the male division, the New Year’s race was won by David Henderson Jr. and second place went to Gregory Lovell.

This year’s  female champion is two-time winner Shalini Zabaneh from Team Sagitun. Shalinin who lost last year to Kaya Cattouse, got the sweetest of victories when she out sprinted Kaya the sprinter. Patricia Chavarria won second place while Kaya took third. Shalini is now a three-time champion, having previously won the race in 2010 and 2011.

The New Year’s race starts from Santa Elena on the northern border with Mexico, runs through Corozal and Orange Walk towns, and ends in Belize City. The race is the creation of Evan X Hyde, chairman of the KREMANDALA media group.

The Primary School Examination results are an integral part of Belize’s education system and make headlines every year when released. The report provides a benchmark for the performance of children leaving the primary school system on their way to high school. Apart from who passed and who did not, the report is hotly debated in our society with praises and some finger pointing at the various bodies within the educational system. Elite schools usually get to pat themselves on the performance of their candidates although sometimes candidates from less regarded schools sometimes pull off an upset. But it is a source of joy or anguish for many as their PSE scores will have life-changing consequences – primary among them – who will get into a high school or not. For those who pass, it can affect their placement in which high school they will be accepted into.

But more than personal results, the PSE exam provides a wealth of information for educators and parents wishing to research trends and weaknesses in Belize’s primary school education system. For most kids, this is as far as they will go before entering the work force, or as some would say, joining the unemployment lines. Immigrants and expats can find out more about the performance in various subject areas in the various schools in the areas that they are intending to relocate to. Below is an excerpt from the introduction of the report by the Ministry of Education. The introduction gives a background to the Primary School Exam and projects the Ministry of Education’s views on the examination. The full text of the PSE 2012 Report can be downloaded in PDF format at the end of this article. Our thanks to the Ms. Yvonne Davis from the Ministry of Education and Minister of Education Patrick Faber for providing us and our readers with a copy to share with you.

Student Population

A total of 6,983 candidates sat the PSE this year. Among these candidates, 1.66% are private candidates and students who attend alternative schools. The registered count was 7135. PSE numbers for 2012 record a 2.4% increase in the number of test candidates registered over 2011. Purpose and Intended Use of the Primary School Examination

Purpose and Intended Use of the Primary School Examination

The PSE assesses achievement of curriculum content and skills in the four (4) areas of English, Mathematics, Social Studies and Science of the National Primary School Curriculum. The examination is criterion-referenced meaning that performance of “each individual is compared with a preset standard for acceptable achievement…The performance of other examinees is irrelevant.”1 In this way, the examination seeks not to rank students in comparison to other students (as in norm-referencing) but to report what each student has achieved for individual skills. This is expressed as a percentage score. The results of the examination are intended to be used for two main purposes:

1. Certification of Students at the completion of primary school in four content areas of the primary curriculum; and
2. Educational decision-making to inform policy, planning and practice at national, district, school and classroom levels.

The PSE As a Criteria For Further Education

The PSE is not and was never intended to be used as the sole criteria for entrance into secondary schools. Secondary schools are advised to use multiple sources of evidence of students’ achievement and holistic development at primary school to get a more complete picture of the students’ abilities, strengths and weaknesses in informing acceptance to and placement in high schools.
While the Ministry of Education will be recognizing outstanding students who have done well on the PSE, the Ministry of Education cautions that making judgments about schools and teachers on the basis of individual student performances is inappropriate.

In the first instance, the performance of one or a few may not be reflective of the many, and secondly schools are not all the same. Therefore making judgments of individual schools’ effectiveness on this basis without considering inputs (resources) available to individual schools and without considering background and contextual factors (socio-economic and family backgrounds and communities in which schools are located) of each school is not only inappropriate, but unfair. Additionally, there is a tendency to either praise or criticize the Standard six teachers depending on the performance of students on the PSE.

The Ministry of Education wishes to note that it is the school as a whole that is responsible for delivering the curriculum—educating the students. Teachers should therefore not be considered independent practitioners, like general practitioner doctors, for whom the school is simply a base. Rather it is the school as a whole that is responsible for the educational development of the students, rather than individual teachers alone. Therefore, the school is to be viewed as a team of teachers led by a principal who is instructional as well as administrative leader with the management being responsible for monitoring and providing support.

Schools, teachers and managements should not use resources (or lack thereof) or background and contextual factors of their students and schools as justification to sit back and not seek improvement. There should be collective responsibility and ownership to always seek improvements in quality. What the PSE Attempts to Assess/Measure Following from the purpose of the PSE, the construction of the examination is guided by a table of specifications which specifies what curriculum content and skills are to be tested, that is what curriculum content and skills will form the basis of the questions set.

Download the PSE 2012 Report in PDF format.

The 210th anniversary of the arrival of the Gariganu people to Belize was celebrated today with a public and bank holiday, re-enactment pageants, church services, parades and dancing in the streets of southern municipalities such as Dangriga and Punta Gorda.

The Garifuna (plural Gariganu) are the descendants of Carib, Arawak and West African people who lived in the Lesser Antilles, especially St. Vicent. After being conquered by the British in 1796, the more African looking ones were considered enemies by the colonial administration, separated from the more Amerindian looking population, and deported to Roatan in Honduras. From there a small group traveled to British Honduras where they received permission to settle in southern Belize in 1802.

Thomas Vincent Ramos, an Honduras Garifuna activist moved to Belize in 1923. A discipline of Marcus Garvey he agitated for the rights of African-descent people in Belize. In 1940 along with Pantaleon Hernandez and Domingo Ventura as spokespersons for the Garifuna people, they were successful in petitioning the British government at the time to set aside the 19th of November as a public and bank holiday called Carib Disembarkation Day. That day is now celebrated as Garifuna Settlement Day with activities primarily concentrated in the southern Stann Creek and Toledo Districts.

 

The festivities began today with the traditional Yuremi which is a reenactment of the arrival of the Gariganu by sea to Belize. Participants sail out to sea in boats and canoes before dawn, and then as the sun rises, arrive at the ports of Dangriga and Punta Gorda in much the same way their ancestors did two centuries ago.

As devout Catholics, official masses are then held at their churches with singing and prayers in their native Garifuna tongue. After speeches and official ceremonies at a local park, a parade with music and dancing is held through the principal streets of their town with more festivities following into the night.

The well-heeled Belize Tourism Board has parted ways with the BVK and Edelman Digital P.R. firms and hooked up with Minneapolis-based ad agency Olson to promote its tourism product. The advertising trade publication AD WEEK quotes the country’s Tourism Minister Manuel Heredia, Jr., Belize’s minister of Tourism, as saying that “Olson not only captured what’s unique about Belize, but it demonstrated the capabilities to bring those insights to life in compelling ways and through many channels.”

The BTB devotes some U.S. $6 Million a year to advertising Belize as a tourism destination. The industry provides jobs for some 25% of the working population. Olson is expected to launch its first campaigns in advertising, design, digital, mobile and social media in January 2013. The AD WEEK article promotes the Olson acquisition of Belize as “The Central American country has tapped Olson as agency of record without a review. “

The following is the official list of Public and Bank Holidays for Belize 2013.

It is notified for general information that public and bank holidays specified in the First and the Second Schedules to the Holidays Act, Chapter 289 of the Laws of Belize, Revised Edition 2003, will be observed on the following days during the year 2013 in accordance with section 3 of the said Act.

 

Day	Date	Occasion
Tuesday	January 1st	New Year’s Day
Monday	March 11th	National Heroes and Benefactors Day (in lieu of Saturday, 9th March)
Friday	March 29th	Good Friday
Saturday	March 30th	Holy Saturday
Monday	April 1st	Easter Monday
Wednesday	May 1st	Labour Day
Monday	May 27th	Sovereign’s Day/ Commonwealth Day (in lieu of Friday, 24th May)
Tuesday	September 10th	St. George’s Caye Day
Saturday	September 21st	Independence Day
Monday	October 14th	Pan American Day (in lieu of Saturday, 12th October)
Tuesday	November 19th	Garifuna Settlement Day
Wednesday	December 25th	Christmas Day
Thursday	December 26th	Boxing Day

The Central American Parliament (PARLACEN) will seek the intervention of

legislatures in the region to eliminate cellular roaming in Central America according to outgoing PARLACEN President Manolo Pichardo in an interview today in the Prensa Libre newspaper.

The Central American Parliament (Parlacen) will present to the legislative assemblies of Central America an initiative to eliminate the roaming of mobile telephones in the isthmus so as to make all calls local, as regional telephone companies have shown little interest in promoting this initiative.

Manolo Pichardo, who handed over the Presidency of the Central American Parliament (PARLACEN) few days ago, has said that he earlier this year presented the initiative of the regional forum to several Governments in the region, who along with executives from the three major telephone companies were all in in favor of the move.

“But that changed because the companies asked for time to consult with their headquarters in other countries, and their head offices responded that they were not interested,” said Pichardo.

Because of that refusal, the Parlacen will resort to the region’s legislatures so that telephone  companies would have to eliminate the roaming of calls between the member countries of that institution – Guatemala, El Salvador, Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic and Panama – making all calls in the region local.

“Very few people use the roaming services and companies would gain more if everyone would make normal calls, and that would of course favor the populations in the region,” said Pichardo. In fact, Nicaragua has already began the process of approval for this initiative and is expected to promote it at the next Summit of Central American Presidents.

Proposals For Open Skies, Regional Driver’s Licenses For Central America

Also under preparation are two other proposals. The first is  that flights between the Central American countries be considered local, and this would lead to a considerable reduction in the cost of air travel, in a policy of “open skies”.

“It is often much more expensive to travel from Guatemala to the Dominican Republic than to Europe, and that is unfair”, pointed out Pichardo. The open skies policy will be also discussed with the airlines.

Another measure underway is an initiative to standardize the legislation of the Parlacen members countries with a view to create a standard drivers license for the region, in the style of the European Union.

The three proposals, said Pichardo, will foster the image of the Parlacen, as they are issues “that will directly benefit the people of our countries”.

Officials are looking at recommending legislation to give more recognition to traditional healing and herbal remedies as part of a new National Cultural Policy, according to bureaucrats from the National Institute of History and Culture.

At the bi-annual Traditional Healers Conclave in Belize held this month in the City of Belmopan officials from the National Institute of Culture and History (NICH) outlined a plan to formulate a national culture policy for Belize. NICH believes that traditional healing and alternative medicine can be elevated and promoted in  by recognizing it in legislation.

One plan is to bottle and package traditional medicinal herbs and place them side by side with medications at government pharmacies in public hospitals. Associate Director of Archaeology John Morris in his address suggested that one of the recommendations that ought to be made to government is to include traditional healing as part of the services offered in Belize’s local hospitals saying “…half of our medicines come from plants anyway. Using our own traditional plants could save Belize a lot of money in medicine imports,” he said. Another idea raised the meeting is to ask the government to make tax and concessions to benefit local producers of medicinal herbs that can be better packaged, graded and used locally and also exported.

The Director of the NICH arm Institute of Cultural and Social research Nigel Encalada cited statistics gathered from the World Health Organisation:

* In some Asian and African countries, 80% of the population depend on traditional medicine for primary health care.

* Herbal medicines are the most lucrative form of traditional medicine, generating billions of dollars in revenue.

* Traditional medicine can treat various infectious and chronic conditions: new antimalarial drugs were developed from the discovery and isolation of artemisinin from Artemisia annua L., a plant used in China for almost 2000 years.

* Counterfeit, poor quality or adulterated herbal products in international markets are serious patient safety threats.

* More than 100 countries have regulations for herbal medicines.

Mr. Encalada says there is a clear need to give more recognition to traditional healing,  protect medicinal plants from being hijacked and patented by pharmaceutical companies, and save millions of dollars in foreign exchange that the country expends importing medications from industrialized countries.

Speaking about the need to build awareness for and protect native medicinal plants, Mr. Morris cited a classic example relating to the cacao plant. According to Mr. Morris, local archaeologists some time ago discovered a few plants of the original cacao species first domesticated by the Maya some 2,000 years ago. He explained that Belizean officials had to take extraordinary steps to secure these plants and prevent a foreign chocolate company that was interested in obtaining samples with a view to taking out a patent on this native plant.

Tropic Air has announced non-stop service to Cancun, Mexico, starting 12 November making it the only in-country airline offering scheduled flights between the two countries.

The press release says that the new service is a direct response to requests from its customers, and carries through on the airline’s stated commitment to the people of Belize. It will not only serve to make travel to Mexico easier, but hopes the new service will allow for the expansion of trade and tourism between the two countries and an alternate route for Europeans to Belize.

“When we inaugurated San Pedro Sula last year, we promised that we would keep growing internationally. This fulfills that promise, and there is even more to come. Cancun in an integral part of the growth strategy for Tropic Air and as such we feel it important that we link the vibrant tourism market of Cancun with Belize” said John Greif III, President of Tropic Air.

Tropic says the flight and fare schedule will be released shortly and it will be available for booking in the coming weeks. The flights to Cancun will add another option to travelers wishing to access Belize via Cancun. The ADO Bus Service to Cancun has become a popular alternative for travelers wishing to save money by flying to Cancun, then from there traveling to Belize by bus.

Tropic Air operates a fleet of 12 aircraft, including the latest generation, G1000 “glass cockpit”, air conditioned Cessna Caravans. With the addition of Cancun and San Ignacio, Tropic will fly to 15 destinations in Belize, Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala. With over 250 employees, Tropic Air carried 250,000 passengers in 2011.