On Wednesday cabinet considered a 54 million dollars bond floated by the Belize Tourism Board. It's called a "transformation bond" and it is a first of its kind fund raising effort for an institution with its own revenue stream and one that always seems flush with cash.
But, today, discussing it very briefly, the minister says the BTB needs to do more.
Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism
"In the past we have, the Ministry of Tourism has gotten loans from IDB, and ICBL on behalf of the tourism industry, we prefer not to go down that route and we are looking at ways to raise capital to ensure that we can make certain investments in the tourism industry, which would include a tourism Academy, improving the border crossing points basic infrastructure at the sites, and other stuff that we want to do."
A breakdown of the use of proceeds from the BTB's bond indicates that funds will be used for Investment in Industry support and Recovery, and Investment in Product Development, and Marketing.
The proposal went out early this year and was well received.
Channel 7