A Missed Vision Finally Taking Shape at CATM 2025

By Omar Silva |Editor/Publisher

National Perspective Belize I Digital2025

www.nationalperspectivebz.com

Belize City: Friday 24th October 2025

For too long, Belize has looked far across oceans to find its visitors — betting its last options on North America and Europe — while right here, across our borders in Central America and the Caribbean, potential travelers have been yearning to discover what we already have: a paradise woven from reef, rainforest, and ancient civilization.

At this year’s Central America Travel Market (CATM 2025) in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, Belize’s presence proved that the dream vacation we so often sell abroad is also the regional treasure we’ve overlooked at home. It took this regional showcase to reveal what should have been clear all along: Belize is not just another Caribbean escape — it is the intimate experience the region’s travelers have been seeking.

🇧🇿 Belize Steps Onto the Regional Stage

Represented by some of the country’s most visionary resorts and service providers, Belize’s delegation stood shoulder-to-shoulder with tourism powerhouses from Guatemala and Honduras. The Belize Tourism Board (BTB) and the Belize Tourism Industry Association (BTIA) led the charge, highlighting sustainable, authentic travel experiences that merge comfort, culture, and community.

Among the standouts was Blu Zen Resort of Caye Caulker — offering beachfront tranquility with a holistic flair — now complemented by the soon-to-launch Zenzi’s Hotel, a 44-room high-end property opening this November. Together, they are redefining the island’s hospitality: elegant, peaceful, yet unmistakably Belizean.

Further inland, Cahal Pech Village Resort in San Ignacio carried the torch for cultural and adventure tourism. With 73 rooms, full tour logistics, and all-inclusive options, it sells more than a stay — it sells movement, immersion, and discovery within Belize’s Maya heartland.

Then came the luxury statement: Brisa Oceano Resort and Magenta Caye, a private-island jewel six miles off Placencia. Managed by Belize Barrier Reef Properties Ltd., their offering fuses oceanfront opulence with Belizean artistry — from award-winning chefs to elite service teams. It is the high-end proof that Belize can cater to the world’s most discerning travelers.

🌎 A Region Awakens

CATM 2025, hosted by Honduras, emphasized a single truth: Central America is one journey, not six separate stops. Honduras dazzled with eco-adventures and community tourism; Guatemala showcased its cultural soul from Tikal to Atitlán. Yet in this chorus of destinations, Belize’s voice — soft, refined, and English-speaking — offered the ideal harmony: the peaceful coda to a multi-destination song.

While Honduras impressed with pre-tours and government-backed promotion, Belize reminded the marketplace that exclusivity and authenticity are not mass-produced. Our nation remains the only English-speaking country in the region with both the Maya World and the Caribbean Sea within a two-hour radius. No other country can match that fusion.

🔍 The Question Our Leaders Must Answer

If our neighbors see the promise of Belize, why haven’t we?

For decades, we have invested our marketing dollars chasing long-haul travelers from the United States, Canada, and Europe — while overlooking the short-haul opportunities right next door. The truth is, regional travelers from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and even Costa Rica are increasingly seeking quick, affordable escapes that feel exotic but are within reach.

Belize fits that dream perfectly. Yet without stronger air and land connectivity, cross-border campaigns, and regional packages linking our reef to their ruins, we remain a beautiful detour instead of a central destination.

💡 Time for a Regional Vision

Belize’s participation at CATM 2025 should not be a one-off success; it must mark a strategic shift. The Ministry of Tourism, the BTB, and the private sector need to embrace intra-regional tourism as seriously as we court trans-Atlantic visitors.

We need joint packages with Guatemala and Honduras, regional media campaigns in Spanish, and direct transport routes that make weekend escapes to Belize as easy as to Roatán or Antigua.

Our neighbors are already marketing themselves as a single circuit — Maya World, Coffee Route, Eco-Adventure Trail. Belize must insist on being part of that story, not just a footnote.

✨ A Call to Rediscover Ourselves

Belize has everything the regional traveler wants — serenity, authenticity, and identity. The reef is still our crown, the rainforest our cathedral, and the Maya ruins our ancestral testimony. What we lack is not beauty, but vision.

If CATM 2025 has proven anything, it is that the Intimate Caribbean Experience Belize offers is not an imported fantasy — it is our own reality, waiting to be shared with the region.

It’s time our leaders stop searching across oceans for what our neighbors already value: the warmth, peace, and magic that only Belize can offer.

🪶 SIDEBAR: “The Regional Dream”

From Guatemala’s temples to Belize’s islands, from Honduras’s waterfalls to Costa Rica’s volcanoes, Central America is finally awakening to its shared beauty. CATM 2025 in San Pedro Sula marks the rebirth of regional tourism — and Belize, with its reef and ruins, may yet become its heart.