Belize has all the potential to be one of the fastest moving, most exciting and multi-tiered emerging real estate markets in the world. After all, there’s no denying the nation’s intense attraction to tourists and its almost inimitable appeal to retirees seeking a low-tax, low-cost, safe and well-developed country to live in…
…and yet, and yet…Belize has yet to promote its appeal broadly enough or successfully enough to attract the number of tourists, wealthy retirees or even investors it so richly deserves and certainly needs if it wants to boost its economy, tackle poverty and manage its large trade deficit and external debt
This means that Belize is not reaching its real estate market potential and that 2007 will likely be another slow year for Belize real estate.
Now, that’s not to say that profits can’t be made and released in the short term, it just means that it’s harder to find any form of fast-moving market and the best investment strategy that can be applied to the real estate economics of Belize right now. it is a long-term one in which land and real estate are banked, properties are held and maintained, when possible they are rented out for income acquisition, but more importantly they are bought at today’s low prices and they will stay until Belize reaches the point where it surely must, for which it is recognized as one of the most attractive places in the world to live, work, visit or retire.
In terms of efforts being made to raise Belize’s profile internationally, the Belizean government seems relatively committed to marketing the nation’s attraction as a tourist destination, for example, which is positive and necessary, especially because Belize’s economy relies heavily on tourism. However, the tourism based economy is not growing particularly fast and Belize has also not developed much as an attractive tax shelter economy, which is the other side of the economy that the government is trying to promote. Also, most of the retirees who come to live in Belize are from North America and European buyers are virtually unaware of Belize’s charms.
So what is the problem then? Well, if you look at the World Travel & Tourism Council statistics on Belize, its travel & tourism based economy should have grown about 6% in 2006, which is fine, but the WTTC predicts that the average increases annual rates from 2007 onwards are only about 4.6%, which is not enough if Belize wants to become a player in the global travel and tourism market.
Part of the problem seems to be related to the amount of public spending that goes into the travel and tourism sector. The government currently spends 12.2% of its total budget on tourism, which may sound like a lot, but when you realize that the government considers and requires tourism to be Belize’s main source of foreign exchange, shouldn’t they Be willing to invest more to get more back? The WTTC does not miss the chances that this situation will change a lot in 2007 with its predictions that public spending will expand by only 12.7% over the next 9 years.
Thus, there are no sustained efforts to increase Belize’s potential as a notable offshore paradise, distinguished retirement location, and tourist destination of wide and varied appeal, and this is what disappoints Belize as an investment hotspot. potentially profitable real estate in 2007, but because all the foundations are in place for Belize to have one of the most exciting emerging real estate markets in the world, investors should not ignore Belize. The nation will remain a slow burner throughout 2007 and beyond until the rest of the world awakens to the potential embodied in Belize, which it surely will.