Background Information

San Ignacio is a busy urban center in the Cayo District with much commercial activity focused along the high-street of Burns Avenue. Together with its sister town Santa Elena, the towns are known locally as "Cayo", and are separated by the Macal River which is an important cultural feature in Belize's history and crossed by Belize's only suspension bridge. Belize's Ruta Maya River Challenge: the longest canoe race in Central America, begins on the banks of the river in San Ignacio Town and follows the trade routes of the Ancient Maya and the Colonial era.

Via the Western Highway, the town is easily accessible from Guatemala and less than 2 hours from the Belize international airport. Promoted as the "adventure capital", Cayo town is the gateway for many of the natural and culture based tourist attractions within the district which include caving, birding, canoeing, horseback riding, tubing, and mountain biking. The Cayo district has gained the reputation as the Ecotourism Center of Belize with key natural resources including rivers, waterfalls, caves, natural scenery, and diverse flora and fauna. It also boasts more archaeological sites than any other Belize district with a mix of both surface and subterranean sites. The Maya site of Cahal Pech at San Ignacio is the only Belizean archaeological park situated within the confines of a town, and the cave of Actun Tunichil Muknal re-known for it's sacrificial human remains, is the most documented site in the country.

Although the majority of tourists to the Cayo area visit the District on combined tour packages with other areas in Belize (around 80%), San Ignacio Town is beginning to establish itself as a destination in its own right. There are a variety of accommodation options available and San Ignacio and its surroundings attract tourists from more varied markets than the other main tourist destination areas of Placencia, San Pedro and Ambergris Caye.

The Destination Management Plan for the region proposes to reinforce San Ignacio's role as a staging area for the wide range of nature and culture based activities offered, creating a distinctive gateway to the variety of nearby attractions.

STP INVESTMENT

Component 1
Investments in physical infrastructure and works for San Ignacio Town and its surroundings include:

1. funding for the design and construction of a district Welcome Center and surrounding town enhancement/rehabilitation
2. enhancement and construction of visitor facilities/infrastructure at the local archaeological sites of Actun Tunichil Muknal, Xunantunich and Cahal Pech.

Component 2
The STP program will also finance the development of the San Ignacio Town Center Urban Design Strategy within it's planning component.