Hotel Association holds A.G.M.

Douglas Thompson

The Belize Hotels Association held its annual general meeting at the Biltmore this morning where hoteliers from across the country gathered to discuss the state of the tourism and hospitality industries.  Keynote speaker at the AGM was Director of Tourism Karen Bevans.  It was Bevans’ first time addressing the association since her appointment to the post in early April.  The general assembly also saw the election of a new executive for the B.H.A., with hotelier Lisa Carr of Banana Bank Lodge being chosen as president.  News Five spoke with Immediate Past President Douglas Thompson who says that the association will be looking at several critical issues affecting the industry in the year ahead.

Douglas Thompson, Immediate Past President, BHA

“We had been blessed with the presence of the Director of Tourism from the Belize Tourism Board.  Mrs. Karen Bevans was our keynote speaker and we were very pleased with the message that she left with us, it’s one that we have aspired through the years to achieve which is to forge a stronger partnership with the B.T.B. As you may know, in the last five years since I’ve been president we have leaned heavily on the B.T.B. for financial support for our marketing initiatives and in recent months we have been concerned as to whether or not that kind of partnership would continue and her message to us was very clear that yes, collaboration is the key.  And so yeah, we are very excited that we will be working side by side with the B.T.B. to continue to market Belize hotels internationally.”

Isani Cayetano

“Now I understand that there was an election for new executive of the Hotel Association.  Can you share with us the outcome of that particular exercise?”

Douglas Thompson

“Yes, the slate that was recommended by the BHA was unanimously accepted by the membership, so we have a new president her name is Ms. Lisa Carr.  She is from the Banana Bank [Lodge] and the entire rest of the slate that was in place, except for a couple new members were re-elected.  So I remain as immediate past president so I’m now a director and I pledge to continue to work with the organization and help to make policies going forward, working with the new president and of course, I continue to represent them on the B.T.B. Board.”

Isani Cayetano

“What are some of the challenges, maybe one in particular that has been faced within the hotel industry over the past year since the last AGM?”

Douglas Thompson

“Well fortunately for us the industry is growing, growing rapidly, the number of overnight passengers coming to Belize has increased significantly, over twelve percent and so for the most part hoteliers are doing very well.  Our challenges are mostly found in the new development in cruise which creates some unease in our viewpoint but nothing that is not, that we will not be able to work with at some point and I’m not sure but the new development out in Lighthouse Reef may present some problems for us but that too, we don’t really know the details at this point.  Those would be the challenges but as far as the overnight accommodations are concerned I think we’re doing pretty good and we expect that it would continue going into 2015.”