By Belize Live News Staff: The proposed hotel accommodation tax increase from 9% to 12.5% has a specific problem behind it, and it is washing up on our beaches.
Minister of Tourism Anthony Mahler told 7 News that sargassum is the reason the figure was put on the table.
“It is killing us on the coastal communities that are important for our tourism product,” he said. “How can we fund this?”
The number he put on it is stark. Belize needs roughly $20 million in equipment to fight the seaweed, and does not have the large vessels Mexico and other countries deploy.
“We are losing this battle,” Mahler said, adding that the money spent so far has come from the Belize Tourism Board alone.
He also pushed back on the idea that this came out of nowhere or that he drove it. Discussions have run for close to two years, he said, including meetings between private sector figures, the Ministry of Finance and the Prime Minister without BTB present.
Mahler says he told Cabinet nothing should happen until another meeting with the private sector takes place with him involved.
“I had always opposed new taxes on the tourism industry, always.”
Credit: 7News
Is a tax increase the right way to fund the sargassum fight?
