Hamanasi says it earned Travel + Leisure Central America top 10 honor
The Hopkins boutique resort is using the reader-voted award to highlight its eco-luxury model, dive center and reef-to-rainforest trips.
By Maya Lindqvist · Senior Technology Correspondent
2 min read
Hamanasi Adventure & Dive Resort in Hopkins, Belize, says it has been named one of the Top 10 Resorts in Central America in Travel + Leisure’s 2026 World’s Best Awards, giving the boutique property a consumer-facing honor in a competitive regional luxury market. The recognition also puts a spotlight on the resort’s pitch: high-end stays tied to diving, inland adventure and environmental restoration.
Travel + Leisure’s annual awards are based on reader ratings and experiences. More than 207,000 readers worldwide took part in the 2026 survey, according to Hamanasi.
Dumisani Sakuinje, the resort’s general manager, called the award “a proud milestone” for the property and for Belize. He said it reflected the resort’s effort to combine hospitality, adventure programming and environmental stewardship.
The resort sits on the beach in Hopkins, between the Maya Mountains and the Caribbean Sea. It has 30 accommodations: 12 beachfront rooms and 18 private treehouses set within a coastal forest.
Adventure travel is central to the business model. Hamanasi operates an onsite 5-star PADI Marine Facility and an Adventure Center, and says guests can choose from more than 30 guided activities, including diving at three of the Caribbean’s four atolls, cave exploration, visits to Maya ruins and rainforest waterfall hikes.
That mix places the property in a segment of hospitality that has grown around nature-based travel, especially in destinations where reefs, rainforests and local communities are part of the guest experience. For resorts in Belize and across Central America, sustainability programs and conservation credentials have become part of how properties compete for international travelers.
Hamanasi frames its approach as regenerative travel, a term used by some tourism operators to describe efforts that aim to improve local ecosystems and communities rather than limit damage. The resort says its model includes regrowing native habitat, building elevated treehouse accommodations within restored forest and maintaining a 25-acre nature reserve on the property.
The property also says it runs on a solar microgrid, maintains a certified organic kitchen garden and employs more than 180 Belizean staff members. Hamanasi describes itself as a founding member of Regenerative Resorts and says it was the first beachfront property in Belize certified by Green Globe.
In practical terms, the award gives the resort another marketing point as travelers compare Central American properties by location, excursions and environmental programs. For Hamanasi, the Travel + Leisure recognition ties its Belize eco-luxury adventure and dive resort positioning to a reader-voted hospitality list with global reach.