Julio Saqui, Founder and Owner of Che’il Mayan Chocolate spoke to the Alliance about the prestigious award he received last year at the 2024 World Sustainable Travel & Hospitality Awards.
The Che’il Mayan Chocolate Factory is owned and managed by Julio and Heliadora Saqui, a local Maya couple, in the Stann Creek District of Belize. The factory works alongside local farmers to source cacao beans and produce authentic chocolate bars, cocoa powder, cocoa tea, and Maya Che’il coffee. The factory offers tours of its cacao farms and demonstrations of the chocolate-making process to provide guests with an immersive cultural experience.
Julio and Heliadora Saqui, Owners and Managers of Che’il Mayan Chocolate, pose with World Sustainable Travel and Hospitality Award trophy.
Julio says:
“For us this award is very significant because it showcases how much we care and how integral the work that we are doing here is. We’re not only about making chocolate, what I am trying to do is to continue the cycle of traditional chocolate making and we are are doing this for a reason. So, we can employ young people to show them the culture and make them understand where it comes from- this is part of our identity, and they will appreciate it and use it and use it as a skill to showcase to tourism and to ultimately keep our traditions alive. This compliments the type of work we are doing and we are thrilled to be recognised.”