A public meeting was held last week that featured the members of the Placencia Village Council, Placencia Tour Guide Association and the Placencia chapter of the Belize Tourism Industry Association. The meeting was geared to having these locals express their concerns to Royal Caribbean represenatives and to the Belize government about a plan to build a new cruise terminal in Placencia.
Royal Caribbean has already purchased the land for the terminal, but opponents claim the proposal would damage the environment of the area, which is central to Placencia's appeal to begin with. Obviously the prospect of a cruise terminal in the town would increase the amount of tourists visiting the area, locals are more concerned with the environmental impact the cruise ships and tourists would have in the long run.
"Overnight tourists and foreign home owners are our current and future bread and butter that we have worked so hard for over the last 20 years," said local developer Boris Mannsfeld, who is building the Villas at CocoPlum. "They will be driven away if cruise ships arrive here."