Tourism Expo will showcase expeditions around Belize
The Belize Tourism Industry Association kicked off its biennial Tourism Expo with a pre-event meeting that attracted both local and international stakeholders. This morning’s event was held at the Belize Biltmore Plaza, where the participants discussed what will make this year’s trade show a hit and how it will provide a more exciting and adventurous experience to showcase Mother Nature’s Best Kept Secret.
Mr. Evan Tillett, B.T.B. Representative
“This year BETEX showcases a new marketplace format which will allow international trade to explore the different destinations and have a first hand experience of what Belize has to offer as a travel destination. We trust that this new format will contribute to a greater success of this event, increase the product knowledge of Belize and continue to build a strong and positive image of our country in the international marketplace.”
Nicole Solano, Idea Lab Studios Rep., BETEX Marketing & Mgmt. Co.
“The delegates will be doing two things; they’ll be visiting the destinations and the sites whether it’s archaeological sites or marine reserves, depending on the expedition and they’ll be doing hotel site inspections. So we’ve kinda designed the itinerary so they do a little bit of the site visits and a little bit of hotel inspections, because they have to see the properties. It’s important that they see what it is they’re going to sell so as to experience the product as well as see the actual hotels.”
Andrew Godoy, BETEX Committee Chairman
“We’re expecting that at the end of this expo there will be greater business generated between these buyers who are coming in to the country and the suppliers here on ground. The whole essence of BETEX is organising a tradeshow like this so we can bring the international players to the country, and that they can meet with the local suppliers and industry professionals, and that they can work out packages so that when they go back they can start sending groups and so we can see an increase in arrivals. We know that B.T.B. arrival has shown some challenges over the last few months with arrivals being down as opposed to last year.”
The Belize Tourism Expo will officially open on July thirtieth and will run until August fourth. More than seventy local suppliers and almost a hundred international trade professionals from Europe, North America, Southern Mexico, and Central America have registered to attend.
