AMANDALA 紙のベリーズ観光産業協会 ジム・スコット会長の記事です。
Don’t risk it: tourism takes a firm stand on offshore drilling
Scott says debate should NOT be politicized
by Adele Ramos
adelescribe@gmail.com
BELIZE CITY, Thurs. June 2, 2011
The Belize Tourism Industry Association’s (BTIA) president Jim Scott affirmed today that
contrary to government’s position that tourism and offshore drilling can co-exist, there is
really no symbiosis between the two sectors.
“Nobody could guarantee that there would not be a spill during exploration and during extraction.
I am not willing to take that risk,”said Scott.
In a correspondence to BTIA members today, the group said:“The debate about offshore oil development
and the related referendum comes down to a choice: tourism or oil.
“Picture oil derricks as the seascape view from San Pedro, Caye Caulker, Belize City, Hopkins,
Placencia, Punta Gorda, Turneffe and the Blue Hole! If the aesthetics don’t convince tourists
not to come, consider that the average oil platform discharges 90,000 tons of toxic waste during
its lifetime – and that’s without spills,”it added.
Scott laments that the debate has been politicized by the ruling United Democratic Party (UDP).
He disagrees with the stance of the Prime Minister that UDP supporters should not participate in
the referendum at all.
“I support my Prime Minister all the time,”said Scott, “but democracy means if there is something
you disagree with, you have the right [to say so] and without fear you can express your opinion.”
Scott said, “I would never say don’t show up to vote. It is a right and responsibility in a democracy
to encourage everybody to be engaged in the debate and truly see the risks that are involved.”He urges
people to make informed decisions.
The collective tourism voice is a strong one. BTIA’s last count showed that 600 entities are members of
the organization. Scott additionally said that tourism directly employs 30% of the Belize population.
“If he [Barrow] wants due process to take place, he has to let the stakeholders debate this, as opposed
to politicizing it,”said Scott, lamenting that politics is always thrown into everything.
According to BTIA’s rep on the Belize Coalition to Save Our National Heritage, Craig Hayes of Turneffe
Flats, “Belize’s tourism industry and offshore oil development are simply incompatible. GOB seems to
think that we can have our cake and eat it too – but we cannot.”
They indicate that, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), travel and tourism supports
39,000 jobs in Belize.
“Offshore oil development would add minimal employment opportunities for Belizeans as the average oil rig
employs around 200 individuals, and many of these jobs would go to highly skilled foreign oil workers,”
Hayes adds.
BTIA is a founding member of the Coalition, said Scott, and they have always had a very active rep on the
Coalition.
Scott calls on the government to “ ...let a natural process take place and not advocate for plus or minus.”
He said that a truly democratic process needs to take place and government should take a more passive approach.
“I could see BNE [Belize Natural Energy] saying something like that [that people should not vote in the
referendum], but not our Prime Minister,” said Scott. “Our politicians should not be politicizing this.
This should be a natural process of democracy. The process and the opinion has been biased and tainted.”
