Bay Islands Voice - News on Roatan, Utila & Guanaja

Sign-up for Bay Islands Voice Updates:

Worker makes renovations and improvements to Cannibal Café.

The tourist dependent economy in the Bay Islands has had to deal with a growing list of hardships: world economic downturn, swine flu, earthquake, June coup and political crisis, spike in crime and resulting negative press. Any one of these events would have caused a significant decrease in tourism revenues. Most business owners agree that this is the slowest they have ever seen, even slower then after Hurricane Mitch in 1998. Bay Islands Voice interviewed many business owners to find out how they are coping. These interviews revealed prevailing attitudes and creative business survival tactics.
Some ask weather you can, or even should, market a tourist destination that is engulfed in a political conflict. US, Canada and EU countries all have travel warnings for Honduras, and carving out of Honduras areas that are "just fine" is a tricky strategy.
At an October Central American Travel Market convention in San Salvador, Ricardo Martinez, Zelaya Minister of Tourism, was quoted by Time Magazine saying: "I'd like to tell everyone to come to Honduras and that it's a tranquil place and everything is beautiful, but you think I'd be successful with that message? Of course not."
According to Martínez, Honduras' tourism industry, which grew by a 9% in 2008, has gone into a freefall and is down 70% this year. According to Martinez, the 155,000 Hondurans in the tourism industry are barely surviving if they have a job at all.
Martinez presented his views accompanied by a video of Honduran protesters clashing with riot police. "I'm not saying I am encouraging travel to Honduras, because I have shown you that the situation [for tourism] does not exist," Martínez told the journalists in El Salvador. "But what I am saying is, Please don't forget us, because we are going to solve this crisis. And once we do, we are really going to need your help."
Some argue that last year, the Bay Islands were actually benefiting from the world economic downturn as an economical destination, thus making the perceived tourist drop more dramatic. Yearly figures calculated by Coconut Tree Divers show a 66% drop from last year. With 2008 being a record breaking year in revenues, numbers in comparison to 2007 reveal a 50% drop.
Compounding the downturn are other problems: high unemployment and spike in crime. Reports of multiple robberies, usually petty theft, in excess of five break-ins a month have been reported from the neighborhood behind Pura Vida. Kevin Braun, member of the West End Patronato and owner of Seabreeze hotel and Cannibal cafe, has been working to raise funds for the new police station in West End, and for crucial supplies such as gasoline and flashlights for the increased number of officers.
The rising cost of electricity makes it even more difficult for businesses to stay open and some business owners have decided that it is simply not worth it. They have either sold their business, gone bankrupt, or closed for a period of time, working elsewhere to make money and ride out the slow season.
Every business interviewed indicated they are spending their savings, financial cushion, or personal funds just to stay afloat. Throughout the Bay Islands, the dive shops seem to be the most affected. "The reality is," said PJ Rowntree, Coconut Tree owner, "we're really just barely scraping by, just like everyone else." Many businesses reported not knowing how they will make rent this month: "we're hoping things will pick up by the end of the year."
Despite all the hardships, Bay Islands business owners are in remarkably good spirits, thinking positive, and are utilizing creative survival tactics. "We're too stubborn to go under," laughed Akel. Some Utilians even point to the downturn as a positive situation, saying that development was out of control on the island, and this has slowed the process.
Some businesses are taking the opportunity to invest in their locales, upgrade their service offer, and prepare for the return of high season numbers. Romeo's Restaurant in French Harbour, used three weeks of the summer to refit their location. "It's the first time we shut the restaurant, ever," said Romeo Silvestri, restaurant's manager. Cannibal Cafe also closed for three weeks for renovations and improvements. The Shark Cave is sticking to its five year plan of expansion. "When tourism comes back, we'll be ready and in prime position," said Roland Brooks, Shark Cave manager. Local fruit and vegetable truck vendor, Victor Antonio Cruz is looking to get in on the ground floor of a supplemental business opportunity to expand his earning potential.

The empty main road in West End on a Saturday afternoon.

Fearful of the unstable situation in which Honduras is portrayed, potential tourists are canceling their trips. Business owners are making attempts to create positive associations with tourism in the Bay Islands, sometimes contrary to what might be read by potential tourists in their home town newspapers. Rowntree has been working actively with PADI on publishing articles promoting Honduras. Tyll's Dive Shop has been giving stacks of brochures and information to any travelers going through Central America to leave at hotels. Several businesses are active on Facebook, MySpace, Trip Advisor and blogs, and are encouraging their clients to post that it is safe to visit. It seems to be working. Most dive shops and hotels reported that inquiries are beginning again for the end of the year and beyond.
Several businesses have been using national tour operators to promote Bay Islands to mainland Honduran clients and stay afloat. Palmetto Bay Plantation, Fantasy Island, Turquoise Bay, Henry Morgan, Paradise Beach Club, and Infinity Bay have advertised special promotions dropping prices as much as 50% and sometime offering all inclusive packages for ads low as $40 a day. "We're not making a lot of money, but it's paying the bills," said Cecilia Mendez-Chamer, Palmetto administrative manager. "When things start getting better, we'll make more adjustments."

Tyll's dive masters play cards to pass the time.

Autonomy at All Cost by George Crimmin

In the original contract we Bay Islanders basically got nothing. I believe that there were members of the British parliament that understood this principle and made various amendments that benefited us in significant ways. Queen Victoria's final letter sent to the inhabitants of the Bay Islands in May 1860 was read at a public meeting by then lieutenant governor Thomas Price at Coxen Hole. Queen Victoria's final words were, "My loving subjects, I now leave you to govern yourselves accordingly." In my lexicon that translates to autonomy.
According to my research, the governor General Uwins Elwin was in London at the time trying to have the treaty revoked. There were various demands which my late grandmother Joana Randleston, whose father John Randleston was born in Scotland U.K., assured me were granted. Included are: the freedom of religious observance for present and future generations, non-military service for Bay Islanders, freedom to elect our own representatives, ability to implement laws formulated and regulated by the local population and their representatives, the use of the English language in the counts and public records for perpetuity, and a key provision that we would be governed by resident officers of our own choosing.
Since I have never discovered or even heard of a document disclaiming these rights or denying these guarantees, my logical conclusion is that my late grandmother's memory and knowledge were totally accurate.
We have the documentation, what we need is the courage and the will to come together as one people and aggressively peruse what is rightfully ours. Let us not allow what we cannot do interfere with what we can do. We have dedicated educated and courageous individuals who can not only lead, but help us establish a prosperous, honest, law abiding community. To accomplish this we must elect individuals who are willing to put the common good before their own personal interest- a contingent that would pretty much disqualify most of the current office holders. We desperately need bold new leadership.
We may never get another chance. We must take charge of our own destiny, otherwise we will become irrelevant in our own land, if we are to survive as a people with a history and a future.

Ever since I was a boy I dreamed of Roatán and our sister Islands becoming autonomous. This dream is widely shared by a multitude of Bay Islanders. We have many role models - most of the other Caribbean Islands I have visited have enjoyed autonomy for generations. For instance, the Bahamas declared their independence in 1973 after three centuries of British colonial rule. Role models are important because people seldom improve when they have no other model but themselves to copy.
At this particular time in our history it is more relevant than ever that we energize ourselves and use every avenue possible to achieve this goal. I am a firm believer that the harder you work, the luckier you get. The current problems facing this country are enormous. We should not have to suffer for the incompetence and corrupt leadership of the mainland. We deserve much better.
On July 24, I received a phone call from U.S. congressman, Democrat of Massachusetts James McGovern, who confirmed the fact that the leadership in Tegucigalpa was responsible for the mess we find ourselves in mainly because of the manner which in the former president was deposed. I found myself trying to defend the indefensible.
I also believe it's fair to say that we Bay Islanders, although we are suffering from the consequences of decisions made in Tegucigalpa, had little to do with what actually took place. Well, I propose the perfect antidote: autonomy.
For years I have been focusing on the November 1859 treaty which was really a draft, agreed to by John Lennox Wyke and Honduran president's envoy, Francisco Cruz. The treaty then had to be ratified by both houses of the British parliament. I can assure you that the final product that emerges from these ratifications rarely resembles the original version. It is my contention that the original treaty was significantly amended by the British parliament.

Oak Ridge Squatters Taken off by Police