Check your cruises with the B.T.B.

The Belize Tourism Board has a brand new app for the cruise industry. The free app provides real-time date information for cruise ship calls to Belize. BTB says that the app, which is compatible with android and iOS devices, is loaded with features that will help to save time and make access to information easier for cruise industry partners. We spoke with Director of Cruise Noriko Gamero.

Noriko Gamero, Director of Cruise

Noriko Gamero

“The app was developed for different purposes. The primary purpose is for the calendar view but it also has added features like real-time notifications. The benefit of the real time notification are if you have addition of a new ship to a port or a cancellation sometimes due to inclement weather. We can also be able to send notifications of a closure of a specific site; we can send notifications of a closure of a specific road due to an accident. So, this will allow different stakeholders to plan accordingly and to be able to maneuver and make changes as the day progresses for any cruise ship day. We also have contact information and this allows for any emergency contact information from BTB, our Ministry; they can access to the different police and the ship agents in case they need to notify the cruise ship line. In addition, we also have the statistics where different stakeholders can see monthly statistics of estimated passengers and then we will be able to see monthly and yearly overall as an industry and then it can broken down to the ports – so if you want to know specifically for Harvest Caye or for the fort street tourism village. The true benefit is really less paper work and real time access and less paper-work. A lot of the time cruise ship stakeholders come into our office for a printed version of the calendar or get an email. So, any notifications or any changes, is always an email version. We have to re-print every time there is a new change. So, the cruise app is getting with technology – moving towards the innovative side of keeping up with the real-time for stakeholders and so far the feedback has been great.”