B.T.B’s BOOM and Artificial Intelligence Expected to Increase Belize’s Tourism

Tourism arrivals to Belize prior to the pandemic are almost back to where they were in 2019, but the Belize Tourism Board is continuously seeking to build its momentum.  Today, that was what the B.T.B. engaged in at a forum that sought to attract visitors using technology. It is called Building On Our Momentum or BOOM, which was introduced last year. B.T.B has teamed up with an advertising company in the U.S., as well as others from Canada and Europe to market Belize. Interestingly, artificial intelligence will be employed by B.T.B. and at least one of its partners to get the job done. News Five’s Marion Ali reports. 

Marion Ali, Reporting

Artificial intelligence, it’s the new approach that the folks at the Belize Tourism Board will use to make Belize a top tourist destination in a fiercely competitive world. Today the B.T.B and its partners held a forum as part of an initiative called Building On Our Momentum, BOOM, which was started in 2022.

Anthony Mahler

Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism

“It’s called Building On Our Momentum, and we mean momentum moving forward all the time together with the private sector. We have today presentations regarding artificial intelligence and how we can utilize that in our day-to-day activities to ensure that Belize can compete globally as a tourism destination. We also have presentations from our marketing agencies, in the United States, Canada, and Europe, to ensure that the stakeholders here and Belizeans all across the country understand what we do on a daily basis at the Belize Tourism Board and at the Ministry of Tourism and Diaspora Relations.”

But how will artificial intelligence factor into the B.T.B’s marketing strategy for Belize? The Zimmerman Agency in Tallahassee, Florida does all of the U.S marketing for Belize, and Cole Zimmerman from that company explained.

Cole Zimmerman

Cole Zimmerman, Representative, Zimmerman Agency

“We’re here to show what we’re gonna be doing in 23 and 24 fiscal year, how we’re gonna be utilizing technology to help us use, utilize targeting moving forward. We have some great creative to show that we’ll be utilizing across the entire U.S to help impact travel to the destination. We kinda talked about A.I. today a little bit and we used it from more of a functional standpoint for the people of Belize to be able to use to make their jobs and lives easier. Something like a brochure that you develop over a week or two at a time, takes five or six seconds now, when you put in your props. However, the way that the B.T.B is gonna be using it in the U.S. is gonna be an A.I-developed product, that it hones in on marketing, so we can actually predict who’s gonna be coming to the U.S., so it’s predictive marketing efforts to say, who’s gonna come here, how much money they’re gonna spend here, and then following along that look-alike audience to figure out who else we can be targeting.”

While there is yet to be a year-round direct flight from Canada to Belize, tourism minister, Anthony Mahler explained that through the use of artificial intelligence, Canada can become a huge market for Belize’s tourism.

Anthony Mahler

“Canada is a huge market; they’re progressive people. The research shows that they spend longer time, they spend more money in a destination, and they want an experience that we believe that we have to offer here in Belize. So Canada is an important market for us in North America, and we have invested significantly over the last two years in terms of building awareness and also building back the air routes into Belize from Canada. Air Canada is back and West Jet is back, and we have been talking to other Canadian airlines to look at the possibility of them coming to Belize. Now the next step for us is to continue the discussions with these airlines to ensure that we have year round flights rather than just a seasonal flight.”

Alycia Rea, who does public relations work with Zimmerman Agency on behalf of Belize, informed that five writers who work for different publications based in the U.S are flying in to Belize on Saturday for in-bound media experiences. Marion Ali for News Five.