The issue with belts over longer distance, is you get into resonance/flex issues. You can minimise it by lots of tension, but then the design of what they're tensioned between becomes critical, and you have to make sure everything under tension is strong enough.

There is that system that is essentially a rack the belt sits/locates in, with the belt looping up and over idler and drive pulleys, which eliminates having a long unsupported belt, however from what I remember it was more expensive than other options.

It's like most things, you have to weigh up the pros/cons of each method, and decide what's the best compromise for you.