3 Eco-Champions Making Belize Travels Better
If you’re asking what’s the easiest way to support conservation while you’re in Belize? You already did it: you chose Belize. The culmination of every effort is why the destination was selected to host the inaugural World Sustainable Travel & Hospitality Awards, aside from also taking home the title of World’s Leading Sustainable Destination 2024, and it’s in part of public and private efforts that all add up as one collective voice for eco-tourism. Now a model for responsible travel, we’re spotlighting three Belizean winners of the 21 categories in the 2024 World Sustainable Travel & Hospitality Awards that (seemingly effortlessly) make your Belize travels better: for you, our communities, and our planet.
- Che’il Mayan Chocolate
Winner: Leading Sustainable Cultural Heritage Project
By definition, heritage is an inheritance; for the Maya of Belize, it’s gifted as the food of the gods—cacao. Once the world’s most advanced horticulturalists, practicing agroforestry of their Maya ancestors who have nurtured this labor-intensive crop for centuries, today, the Maya taps into the history of their living culture, unlocking a sustainable future in one sweet package! It’s slightly more slender than an American football and weighs no more than a pound, but each cacao pod is heavy with historical reverence, which points to Belize as the earliest hub of cacao cultivation dating back as far as 600 BCE.
“We sell chocolate through culture, and we sell culture through chocolate,” Julio Saqui of Che’il Mayan Chocolate shares—winner of the 2024 Leading Sustainable Cultural Heritage Project. As a second-generation cacao farmer who first began playing with chocolate as a 13-year-old, Julio and his wife Heliodora launched Che’il in 2010 to honor their Mopan Maya descent. After all, it’s not just about this gentle process done with bare hands, it’s about the people behind it, through the empowerment of small farmers for a community-based business and next-generation stewardship, including employing 6 Maya youths of Maya Centre. “I want to see more young Maya people get involved; not just in cacao, but in the culture; continuing to practice our culture and its rituals. They can through chocolate.”
Today, chocolate is still processed the traditional way by Che’il: at least 40% by hand on the comal and crushed by volcanic stones as you would on a metate. Plus, no bean goes to waste: husks become compost, oil is sold separately as cacao butter, excess pulp gets upcycled to wine, and the outer shells brew an antioxidant-rich tea. How sweet is that?
- Turneffe Atoll Sustainability Association (TASA)
Winner: Sustainable Marine Conservation Initiative
After a decade of contributing to sustainable fisheries, the non-profit co-manager of Turneffe Atoll Marine Reserve—the largest and most ecologically diverse coral atoll in the Western Hemisphere—can officially call their conservation efforts in Belize award-winning, too. The best part? Every visitor can tote the same bragging points. That’s because entrance fees go directly back into the reserve’s conservation and day-to-day management by the Turneffe Atoll Sustainability Association (TASA), who work on behalf of (and for) the citizens of Belize. This site stretches thirty miles long and ten miles wide, where the reef acts as a glue, linking all these islands and attracting snorkelers, divers, and anglers. Innovative, adaptive, and collaborative efforts are the talk, but TASA is strutting it into action 24/7, blending traditional engagement strategies and technology to redefine marine conservation and improve management effectiveness.
For example, “Visit Turneffe” became the first-ever destination app for a Marine Protected Area (MPA) in Belize, making it even easier to access Turneffe with its citizen-science wildlife reports, on-atoll hotel bookings, and even digital entrance tickets. Whether treating corals with cutting-edge research alongside the University of Belize’s Environmental Research Institute (ERI) or relocating turtle hatchlings for safe release, their biodiversity monitoring and research team keeps busy year-round with more than 500 species of fish, 65 species of stony corals, and big fauna like manatees.
Having “boots on the ground” looks different when you’re 30+ miles east of the mainland. But radar systems and drone patrols help bridge the gap when it comes to enforcing strict catch-and-release sportfishing, protecting five major spawning aggregation sites, or supporting sustainable fisheries of the spiny lobster and queen conch. “MPAs can generate sustainable revenues for their management,” said Valdemar Andrade, Executive Director of TASA. So whether you’re visiting Turneffe to explore the terrestrial trail on Calabash Caye, taking the plunge for Belize’s first snorkel trail, or diving the (sunken) Witconcrete—a former World War II ship turned artificial reef—all guests need to do is embrace TASA’s philosophy of “discover, learn, embrace” when you’ve got 365,000 acres of a marine playground.
- Belize Tourism Industry Association (BTIA)
Winner: Leading Sustainable Community Engagement Programme
From boutique hotels to tour operators and restaurants, the Belize Tourism Industry Association (BTIA) speaks for more than 200+ members as Belize’s largest private sector tourism organization, with 10 chapters in every district and major tourism hotspots. Between advocating for the balance between sustainable industry growth and environmental stewardship, efforts can look like marketing, fostering sustainable practices, and above all, engaging in communities across the country. It could be efforts towards piloting a project that develops ‘The Next Generation of Marine Conservationists’, leading bi-national tourism exchanges in the region, or partnering with local stakeholders for infrastructure, like Caye Caulker’s first Tourist Information Center (TIC). Because you’re not just visiting another country in Central America—you’re stepping into a world of vibrant heritage, community-driven sustainability, and profound respect for nature in Belize. Executive Director Linette Canto smiles post-award, “We continue to work on our sustainability goals and collaborations through education and training [the tourism community]—continuing the work 39 years in the making.”
