Chetumal Loses Belizean Visitors to Insecurity and Rising Costs

Chetumal, Quintana Roo — A growing perception of insecurity, higher prices for Mexican goods, and an increase in the border fee known as the Non-Resident Fee (DNR) are keeping Belizean visitors away from Chetumal, hurting the capital’s shops and tourism industry.

Fewer Belizeans are crossing the border into the city, and merchants and service providers say the decline is especially noticeable among visitors from the Belizean towns of Corozal and El Cayo.

Emily Towson, a visitor from Belize, said that since February the Belizean government has advised citizens not to travel to Mexico because of a wave of violence that followed the killing of Nemesio Oceguera, alias “El Mencho,” in the western state of Jalisco. “Neighbors from Corozal, where I’m from, were telling me that people were being killed by Walmart; of course I knew it wasn’t true, but many were scared,” she said.

The rising cost of Mexican products is also driving Belizeans to shop elsewhere. Many residents of El Cayo now travel to Flores, in Guatemala’s Petén department, because it has the same stores as Chetumal at lower prices, Towson added.

“I bring diapers, which are very cheap, but the situation changes at the Belize customs office, where they charge a lot of tax,” she said.

For Belizean families, the increase in the DNR is a significant added expense and has raised questions about why the fee applies to short land crossings that were previously exempt.