B.T.B. prepares for travelers seeking Year of the Maya

Belize’s tourism industry is slowly but surely rebounding from the effects of the global recession, which hit hard especially for hotel owners and tour operators. The Belize Tourism Board and Belize Tourism Industry Association have been working together to promote the Jewel as a destination, to keep the numbers on an upward trend. After the launch of the 2011 Destination Belize, the BTIA, B.T.B. and other stakeholders conducted sales presentations in El Salvador and Panama. BTIA’s President James Scott and Executive Director Efren Perez were guests on this morning’s Open Your Eyes to talk about the current state of the tourism industry and their plans moving forward. Perez explained that right now, the focus is on preparing for 2012 when tourists will be seeking out the Mayan experience.

Efren Perez, Executive Director, BTIA

Efren Perez

“One of the things I think for BTIA for 2012 that we’re really excited about is BETEX, the Belize Tourism Expo which is going to be in April of next year, April twenty-fifth through thirtieth. That entire event has changed a little and over the years we managed to make sure that every event is different, our BETEX is comparable to any trade show in the US. You go to a Miami show or an LA show and it’s quite comparable. We have the caliber of agents who are coming into Belize and who are interested in the products. We have hotels and tour operators also in Belize that are offering that type of service. So definitely I think that BETEX for example, when it comes to the event itself; this year we’re having a centralized marketplace so there will be one on one meetings with travel agents coming in from the US with specific hotels. There will be a whole trade show set up in Belize City where hotels will be able to sit down and negotiate rates, negotiate properties. But not only that, I think that with the partnership we have with the Belize Tourism Board also. We’re working in collaboration with them to try and secure more agents. For example, we went to El Salvador and Panama quite recently with the B.T.B., we sat down with TACA, one of the airlines, to discuss ways in which we can work with them to bring in their top agents for BETEX.”