When the US catches a cold…
As the expression goes, when the US gets a cold, the rest of the world catches the flu…And when the US gets the flu, the rest of the world comes won with pneumonia! I’m getting a first-hand look at the impact our bad economy has on tourism…
I’m sitting poolside @ the Brahma Blue, a beautiful and private hotel located on its own private island near San Pedro, Belize, which is located on Ambergris Caye. Music fans may remember Madonna’s La Isla Bonita — “Last night I dreamt of San Pedro” — which was inspired by her visit to this beautiful place. To give you a sense of how remote it is, when you arrive in Belize City (via air or cruise ship), you have to take a boat (a little over an hour) or puddle-jumper (~20 minutes) to San Pedro. Brahma Blue is actually on another island that’s a 5-minute “water taxi” ride from San Pedro. The resort has only been open since November, and the deadly combination of a bad economy and minimal marketing is clearly evident. We’re literally the ONLY guests out of 14 rooms (I’m told they’re expecting 2 arrivals today). But other than the skeleton crew of hotel staff members, we’re basically the only ones on this little island as far as the eye can see!
An informal survey of the staff here and various other hotels and restaurants we’ve visited over the past couple of days have said business is down 50% or more than usual for this time of year.
We spent our first night of the trip at Hotel Yakunah in Progreso, Mexico, before boarding The World, a luxurious cruise ship that is more of a floating “luxury condo development” than a cruise ship. I’ll blog about our 6 days on The World in a separate entry. The very pleasant owner-operators also said their occupancy is down — and we’re talking about a $50/night place.