There was a time when San Pedro was simply one of Belize’s tourism destinations. Today, I think it is difficult to argue that we are not the tourism capital of Belize. For many visitors, Ambergris Caye is their introduction to our country; they arrive through the international airport, make their way to the municipal airport or water taxi terminal, and before long they are stepping onto the streets of San Pedro.
For some, this little island community is the Belize they have dreamed about, the Caribbean Sea, the Barrier Reef, golf carts, beach bars, dive boats, palm trees, fresh seafood and that relaxed island lifestyle we have spent decades selling to the world. But what San Pedro has become goes far beyond the postcard image.
As I continue this San Pedro City series, looking at the transformation of our community from the small fishing village many of us remember into what I believe is essentially a city operating under the title of a town, tourism has to be a major part of the conversation. Tourism did not simply help San Pedro grow. Tourism reshaped the entire island.
It created jobs, attracted investment, encouraged migration, expanded our neighborhoods, filled our skies with airplanes and our waters with boats, and helped create the incredible variety of restaurants and businesses I discussed in previous parts of this series. In many ways, the San Pedro we know today exists because generations of islanders embraced tourism and built an industry around one of the greatest natural resources imaginable, the Belize Barrier Reef.
From Fishing Village to Tourism Powerhouse
Older generations remember when San Pedro was primarily a fishing community. Lobster, conch and fish provided livelihoods for many families, while coconuts had played an important role in the island economy even earlier.
Tourism arrived gradually.
Visitors discovered our reef, our beaches, our people and the charm of a small Caribbean settlement where life moved slowly and everyone seemed to know everyone else. Small hotels and guesthouses appeared. Local fishermen became tour guides. Families opened restaurants, dive shops and tourism businesses. Word spread.
Then San Pedro took off.
What started with adventurous travelers, divers and fishermen eventually developed into a sophisticated tourism industry with everything from small locally owned hotels to luxury resorts, private villas, vacation rentals and multimillion-dollar developments. The little airstrip that once welcomed a handful of small planes now handles a constant flow of domestic flights. Tour boats leave our docks every morning. Water taxis bring passengers throughout the day. Golf carts fill our streets as visitors head north, south, downtown or across the island to Secret Beach. Tourism is no longer something happening in one little section of San Pedro. It stretches across Ambergris Caye.
An Island Built Around Experiences
One of the things that makes San Pedro unique is the sheer number of experiences available from such a relatively small island. You can wake up in the morning and snorkel at Hol Chan Marine Reserve and Shark Ray Alley, dive along the Belize Barrier Reef, spend the afternoon at Secret Beach and be back downtown for dinner at a restaurant serving food from another part of the world. The following day might include fishing, sailing, parasailing, a sunset cruise, a trip to the mainland or simply exploring the island by golf cart.
And then there is the Great Blue Hole. Although it is not located directly off Ambergris Caye, San Pedro has long served as one of the major launching points for diving and sightseeing trips to one of Belize’s most recognizable natural attractions. Our island has essentially become a gateway to experiences throughout Belize. That is important because San Pedro does not compete only with other Belizean destinations anymore. We compete internationally.
A traveler deciding where to spend a Caribbean vacation may be comparing Ambergris Caye with destinations in Mexico, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, the Bahamas or elsewhere in the region. San Pedro has grown into a destination with enough hotels, restaurants, tours, nightlife, transportation and services to compete for those visitors.
Yet somehow, beneath all of that growth, pieces of the old San Pedro remain. Visitors still walk down the beach barefoot. They still stop and talk with locals. Golf carts remain the primary form of transportation. Fishermen still head out to sea. You can still find a roadside barbecue, buy food from a street vendor or sit at a small local restaurant alongside people who have lived here their entire lives. That mixture may be one of San Pedro’s greatest strengths.
Tourism Created More Than Hotels
When we talk about tourism, it is easy to think only about hotels, resorts, restaurants and tour operators. But the economic footprint is much larger. Tourism supports taxi drivers, golf cart rentals, construction workers, electricians, plumbers, landscapers, fishermen, farmers, artists, musicians, photographers, real estate agents, property managers, mechanics, retailers and countless other professions. It creates opportunities for entrepreneurs who may never directly interact with a visitor but whose livelihoods depend on the economy tourism creates.
This connects directly to what I have been exploring throughout this series. The population grew because there were jobs and opportunities. DFC expanded because workers and families needed somewhere to live. Businesses multiplied because a growing population and tourism economy created demand. Our restaurant scene exploded because thousands of residents and visitors needed places to eat.
Each chapter of the San Pedro City story connects to the next.
Tourism is one of the engines driving all of them.
But Success Comes With a Price
We should also be careful not to romanticize everything that growth has brought. Being the tourism capital of Belize comes with enormous pressure. More visitors mean more development. More development means greater demand for electricity, water, roads, sewage treatment, garbage collection and public services. More hotels and vacation rentals mean more construction. More residents and tourists mean more vehicles. More vehicles mean congestion, parking problems and greater risks on our streets.
And then there is the environmental pressure. Our tourism industry depends heavily on the very things that uncontrolled development can threaten: the reef, the sea, our mangroves, wetlands, wildlife and the natural beauty of Ambergris Caye. That creates a contradiction we cannot ignore. The more successful San Pedro becomes as a tourism destination, the more carefully we must protect what made people want to visit us in the first place.
We cannot simply build endlessly and assume tourists will continue coming because they always have. Other destinations are competing for the same travelers. Visitors today are increasingly conscious of cleanliness, sustainability, safety, infrastructure and the overall quality of their experience. Growth without planning could eventually damage the product that created the growth.
Does Our Infrastructure Match Our Importance?
This is where the idea behind San Pedro City becomes particularly relevant. If San Pedro carries such a significant share of Belize’s tourism activity and generates substantial economic activity for the country, shouldn’t our infrastructure reflect that importance?
Our community cannot continue growing at this pace while planning as though we are still the little town we were decades ago. A major tourism destination needs proper roads and drainage. It needs reliable utilities, effective garbage collection and wastewater management. It needs strong emergency services, healthcare, policing and traffic enforcement. It needs public spaces, parks, parking solutions and long-term development planning.
And perhaps most importantly, it needs infrastructure designed not for the San Pedro of today, but for the San Pedro that will exist ten or twenty years from now. Because if history has taught us anything, it is that this island does not stop growing.
More Than a Tourism Town
What fascinates me most is that San Pedro has evolved beyond being simply a place built for tourists. It is home. Thousands of people wake up here every morning, take their children to school, go to work, open their businesses, shop for groceries, visit doctors, attend church, play sports, celebrate birthdays and build their lives here.
Tourism may power much of our economy, but behind the resorts, restaurants, dive shops and beautiful vacation photographs is a large, permanent community that must also be cared for. That distinction matters.
San Pedro cannot be planned only as a tourism destination. It must be planned as a growing urban community that also happens to be one of the most important tourism destinations in the country. Perhaps that is another reason why the word town increasingly feels too small. We have the population. We have the businesses. We have the restaurants. We have expanding residential communities like DFC. We have air and sea transportation connecting us with the rest of the country. And we have an international tourism industry that has placed the name San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, on the world map. People thousands of miles away know our little island.
Some may know San Pedro before they can name another municipality in Belize. So whether anyone ever officially declares it or not, when it comes to tourism, San Pedro already operates on the scale of a city. It is our greatest economic strength, one of our proudest success stories and perhaps our greatest responsibility. Because becoming the Tourism Capital of Belize is one thing. Making sure we remain worthy of that title for generations to come will be the real challenge.
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