Caye Caulker airstrip renovations have yet to begin

The work to upgrade the airstrip on the island of Caye Caulker, a very popular tourism destination in Belize, remains in limbo. The island's airstrip was one of the busiest in the country until the local airlines, Tropic and Maya Island Air, suspended flights on October 1st due to the dangerous condition of the runway. This prompted the Belize Airports Authority (BAA) to attempt to acquire funding through a multi-million dollar loan from the Social Security Board (SSB). However, after the loan was apparently turned down, the fate of the project now hinges on the outcome of a meeting between SSB's Board of Directors scheduled on Thursday, December 21st. Meanwhile, the tourism sector on La Isla Cariņosa continues to suffer the consequences.

Many hoteliers have reported losses due to reservation cancellations since their customers cannot fly directly to the island from the International Airport in Ladyville, near Belize City. The only option to travel to the island currently is via water taxi, which according to them is not the number one choice of transportation for some visitors to their island. They urged the respective authorities to do something as soon as possible in order to remedy the situation and minimize losses.

According to Ruiz, Caye Caulker is the fifth most trafficked airport in the country and a significant loss in arrivals have been recorded. "We know the airstrip is the key to the development of the tourism, business sector, and leisure sector, and so we want to get this runway back online and operational," said Ruiz. "We had been looking at a time frame of six to eight months, but because of where we are with the SSB, and the time it has taken, we are going to try to shorten that as much as possible."

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