Project Development Director Hired For The Sustainable Tourism Development Program

The Ministry of Tourism, Civil Aviation & Culture and the Belize Tourism Board, are pleased to introduce Mr. Noel Jacobs as the Project Development Director, a new position established in conjunction with the Belize Sustainable Tourism Program.

The Belize Sustainable Tourism Program is a response to challenges that must be faced if Belize's tourism sector is to grow in a manner that is economically, environmentally, and socially sustainable. The intention is to strengthen the sector's contribution to the national economy by consolidating the overnight tourism market with investments and activities along three inter-related fronts:

1. enhancing the tourism experience and resource sustainability at consolidated destinations subject to pressure;
2.  diversifying tourism products in emerging destinations for the overnight market segment; and,
3. Strengthening tourism institutions for policy, destination planning and management.

The Program will focus on several of Belize's key tourism destinations including the Cayo District, San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, the Placencia Peninsula, and Belize City, - destinations which account for approximately 64% of tourism earnings in Belize. The project is being funded by the Government of Belize and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) through a loan of US $13.322 million.

Mr. Noel Jacobs holds a Master of Science Degree in Marine Biology from the Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados (CINVESTAV) del Instituto Politecnico Nacional of Mexico.  He also holds numerous certificates of Executive and Management Courses held throughout the world, in topics ranging from Biodiversity Management to Political and Economic Reform.  During the last twelve years, his work experience has included the design, preparation, and implementation of the four-country multi-sectored/multi-disciplinary Mesoamerican Barrier Reef Systems Project; biodiversity planning and management at both the national and regional level; general project design and management; project and institutional monitoring and evaluation; strategic planning, delivered multiple training courses both nationally and internationally to organizations in varying aspects of institutional development; and numerous national and regional consultancies focused on multi-country biodiversity management and policy formulation.