A new high season is about to start on Ambergris Caye, and the island's residents are nervous. Belize Tourism Board figures show overnight arrivals dropped 8.4% between June and September 2026 versus the same stretch in 2025, with August alone down nearly 13%. Locals in San Pedro say business is as quiet as it's been since the pandemic, and nearly every livelihood on the island hangs on tourism.
Into that anxiety steps a community group with a blunt message: if Belize wants visitors, the island needs to look the part. The Ambergris North Alliance (ANA), a nonprofit formed in 2024, has spent two years running monthly volunteer clean-ups along the northern corridor, funding paid roadside crews through local sponsorships and even launching an environmental summer camp for local kids. The problem they keep running into? Visitors driving north towards Secret Beach pass known dump sites, illegal rubbish piles, bulldozed mangroves and lagoons being filled in — hardly the pristine reef-and-nature postcard Belize sells.
In late September, ANA wrote to eight officials — including the Mayor, the Area Representative, the Minister of Tourism, the Minister of Sustainable Development and the Chief Environmental Officer — asking for a response by October 12. It didn't come. Not a single reply from any of the eight. On October 23 the group hand-delivered the letter again and requested a meeting with the new Minister of Public Utilities, Hon. Ramon Cervantes.
What ANA actually wants is fairly modest: clearing of known dump sites on the route to Secret Beach, regular household waste collection for North Ambergris (or at least an interim plan with more public bins), and updated by-laws covering construction sites and business waste disposal. Belize already has strong environmental laws on paper, the group argues — enforcement is what's missing. They're asking officials to meet them at one table rather than handling each issue separately.
Why should travellers care? Because this is the road you'll take to Secret Beach, one of the island's most popular day trips, and the reef beyond it is the reason most people come. The stakes get higher in December 2027, when Discover Airlines launches the first-ever direct flight from Europe to Belize from Frankfurt — bringing a wave of first-time visitors whose first impressions will be made on these very roads.
For now, the volunteers' takeaway stands: they can pick up the rubbish, but they can't build a waste system. If you're planning an Ambergris trip this season, the island is still welcoming — just go knowing the community is fighting to keep the place worth the flight.
