Pelican Beach Resort Takes Top Honors in the BHA Roots & Reefs Challenge

We’re thrilled and honestly, a little humbled, to share some big news: Pelican Beach Resort on South Water Caye has won the Belize Hotel Association’s Roots & Reefs Challenge, a nationwide sustainability video competition open to hotels across Belize, BHA members and non-members alike.

As a small, independently owned Belizean property, this one means the world to us. We were up against hotels and eco-lodges with far bigger budgets and teams than us. Some of these properties have been pioneers in sustainability for a decade or more, and helped write the playbook for responsible tourism in this country.

To be recognized alongside, and ahead of, that caliber of competition is a milestone not just for our island team, but for what a small operation rooted in local hands and local knowledge can accomplish.

We’re proud to fly the Belizean flag on this one.

Why This Award Matters

South Water Caye sits atop the Belize Barrier Reef, part of the second-largest barrier reef system in the world, inside one of the country’s largest marine protected areas. This is not a backdrop for us – it’s the reason Pelican Beach exists, and the thing we owe the most care to.

Since we opened our doors in 1971, over 50 years ago, our approach to hospitality has been built around a simple idea: hospitality begins with the island itself. We believe our role is to protect and enhance the natural beauty of South Water Caye, not simply to occupy it, so that every guest who visits can experience it as it truly is. When guests are surrounded by something this alive and unspoiled, they don’t just see it. They fall in love with it — and that experience, the one we get to offer you, only exists because the reef, the mangroves, and this small island are still healthy enough to share.

The BHA’s challenge asked hotels across the country to submit a two-minute video showing, not just describing, their commitment to responsible tourism, environmental stewardship, and community impact. For us, that commitment shows up in what’s already part of your stay here:

• Solar power across our cottages and facilities
• Rainwater catchment systems that reduce our footprint on a fragile island ecosystem
• Eco-friendly wastewater and composting systems
• Mangrove protection along the caye
• Active sea turtle nest protection
• A team rooted in the local Belizean community, sharing culture and conservation with every guest who visits

None of this is separate from the guest experience — it is the guest experience. It’s why the water is this clear, why the reef just off our beach is still this alive, and why a stay here feels like something increasingly rare.

A Thank You

This award belongs to our entire team — from the boat captains who get guests safely to the island, to the kitchen staff sourcing local ingredients, to the housekeeping team maintaining our composting systems every single day. It also belongs to our guests, whose choice to travel responsibly, and to travel with a small Belizean-run property, makes this work possible in the first place.

We’re also grateful to the Belize Hotel Association for creating a platform that puts a spotlight on sustainability efforts happening across every corner of the country’s tourism industry, from big resorts to small island operators like us. As part of the win, Pelican Beach receives one year of complimentary BHA membership, which we’re proud to put toward continuing this work alongside the wider Belizean hospitality community.

What’s Next

Winning this award isn’t a finish line, it’s fuel. We’re already looking at adding a reef keeper environmental program and additional solar capacity. We’ll keep sharing that journey here and on our social channels, because we think the story of how a small island resort protects a UNESCO World Heritage reef is one worth telling — and one we’re honored to keep telling as Belizeans.

Thank you for being part of it. Come see South Water Caye for yourself, and see the reef we’re working so hard to protect.