1 month ago
23
The Belize Tourism Board is exploring new ideas and pathways to sustain Belize’s tourism product as the industry continues to grow. That discussion was at the centre of a stakeholder forum hosted today by the BTB at the Grand Resort and Residences in Belize City. The event brought together licensed hoteliers, tour operators and other industry stakeholders to examine the current state of tourism, the BTB’s priorities and the opportunities available to local businesses. Participants also met in smaller groups, where they exchanged ideas, shared their experiences and discussed some of the challenges facing the sector. Media Relations and Communications Specialist at the BTB, Phylicia Pelayo, explained the purpose of the forum.
Phylicia Pelayo, Media Relations and Communications Specialist: “And each of them shared initiatives they’re undertaking as well as opportunities for our stakeholders to partner with us to really strengthen Belize’s position across these markets. As part of the forum we really wanted to give our stakeholders a more personalized space to have conversations with our agency partners and the BTB team. So while we had presentations this morning, the afternoon segment is breakout sessions for the different markets. And in those breakout sessions the agency partners are available to share in small groups more insights about how our stakeholders can take advantage of opportunities that already exist and what’s upcoming.”
Another focus of the forum was helping stakeholders better understand Belize’s major tourism markets, including the United States, Canada, Europe and Latin America. The sessions looked at emerging trends and how local businesses can adjust their products and marketing to attract more visitors from those markets. Vice President at FINN Partners Travel, Natalie Swinburne, shared her experience at the forum and the value of bringing industry partners together.
Natalie Swimburne, Vice President FINN Partner: “We from the European markets that the UK, DAC, France and Netherlands we bring 37,000 travelers a year. We’re hoping to increase that especially with the new Air Canada same day connection so it makes travel from Europe that much easier so we’re very excited about that. The European travelers are really looking for bucket list experiences and they do travel for longer as well so they visit much more of the country so it gives real value to your accommodation. It’s been brilliant. It’s great to see that there’s over 215 stakeholders so a very full room this morning. And so each market had their own presentation and we got really great feedback. We connected with a lot of the local stakeholders so for us the connections are invaluable so we’re really excited to continue the sessions this afternoon.”
The BTB hopes the information and ideas shared during the forum will help tourism businesses make stronger connections, identify new opportunities and contribute to the long-term sustainability of Belize’s tourism industry
English (US) ·