BELIZE CITY, Belize (April 4, 2026) — Nicole Usher Solano, CEO of the Ministry of Tourism, Youth, Sports and Diaspora Relations, says Belize has embedded sustainable tourism principles into its national planning for years, but readily acknowledges the sector must continue evolving in the face of new challenges.
“We do have the National Sustainable Tourism Master Plan,” Solano said. “From a planning perspective, we’ve already taken sustainable tourism into consideration, and that is across the board for our investments and our planning purposes. But every day, there’s something new to learn. Things are changing. We don’t have all the answers.”
Solano made the remarks during Belize’s “Open Your Eyes” morning television show alongside Erin Gongora, Sustainable Tourism Coordinator at the Belize Tourism Board, and Narendra Ramgulam, Deputy Director of Sustainable Tourism at the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO). The discussion previewed the 17th Sustainable Tourism Conference (STC 2026), scheduled for April 27-30 at Caribeville in San Pedro, Ambergris Caye.
The seasoned tourism official pointed to the sargassum influx as a prime example of an issue confronting the entire Caribbean region, where solutions remain in the trial-and-error stage. “That’s where, for me, this conference is key,” she added. “I feel proud and happy that Belize has the opportunity to host because we will actually be bringing all of these experts to Belize. Many times we go out there and we talk about the work that Belize is doing, but this will give us the opportunity to bring everybody into our country and to be able to showcase hands-on what it is that we’re doing.”
The conference, organized by CTO in partnership with the Belize Tourism Board and the Ministry of Tourism, will convene tourism leaders, ministers, experts, investors, journalists and community representatives under the theme “Tourism in Full Color: Integrating Blue, Green, Orange and Beyond Economies into Sustainable Planning and Development.”
Ramgulam described the event as a “solutions lab for the Caribbean,” designed to move beyond discussion documents that often remain on shelves.
Dame Pania Tyson-Nathan, Chief Executive of New Zealand Māori Tourism, will deliver the keynote address. The closing day includes the presentation of the CTO Sustainable Tourism Awards.
To register, visit https://bit.ly/Register-for-STC2026.
