BETEX ’98 will draw travel agents

This year’s BETEX ’98 Tourism Trade Expo is three weeks away and according to the organizers, while the show will be smaller than previous years, it will be bringing more prospective buyers to the country. According to Xinia Aguilar, coordinator of BETEX ’98, the event started three years ago to promote and sell Belize as a tourist destination.

Xinia Aguilar, Coordinator, BETEX ’98

“They are interested in buying Belize as a destination. They have many people who come from Europe and from the U.S. and Canada, from Central and South America that do not know about Belize and want to know about Belize, want to see where they can send their tourists. You know, people are wanting a new destination to go to and Belize is becoming a, very quickly, a destination of great interest. And so, these people, what they basically want to do is to come here and trade with the local hoteliers, the tour operators.

It will be a show that will not be as large as the years before, but the new, I would say the new feature this year is that we realized that for the past two years we have been concentrating on getting the outside to understand Belize and this year we are saying that we also need the inside to understand selling Belize and trading Belize. So this year, for the second day we are inviting the local people to come in and view the show. It’s of course for a small fee of two dollars per person, to see what Belize has to offer because you would be surprised how many Belizeans are not aware of how beautiful our country is and what there is to see and do here. And it starts with us learning how to respect our country.”

BETEX ’98 runs from August fifth to the seventh at the Biltmore Plaza Hotel.