B.T.B. gives tourism status report
As one of the fastest growing economic sectors in Belize with more than a million visitors passing through the country in 2004, tourism is big business. This morning the movers and shakers of the industry met in the old capital for a status report.
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
Hoteliers, restaurateurs, and other investors in Belize?s tourism product gathered in Belize City as part of the Belize Tourism Board?s Seventh Annual Industry Presentation. And coming as no surprise, according to the B.T.B., Belize?s tourism industry is booming. In its report card, B.T.B. bragged about its grades:
In 2004 tourism accounted for sixteen percent of Belize?s Gross Domestic Product. Total Overnight arrivals at all border points increased four point seven percent, with nine record breaking months of arrivals at the Phillip Goldson International Airport. Hotel industry revenues stand at ninety-two million dollars, up seventeen percent, and employment in the hotel sector jumped nine point four percent. In cruise tourism, Belize welcomed eight hundred and fifty thousand passengers from four hundred and six ships, a whopping increase of almost fifty percent from 2003.
B.T.B. says it will continue an aggressive advertising campaign, this time turning to markets in Europe. In all, B.T.B. says it will invest more than eleven million dollars in developing Belize as a destination, approximately five million in marketing and public relations, more than three million dollars on product development, two million on finance and administration, and two hundred thousand in capital expenditures.
Despite such rapid growth and success in the industry, Minister of Tourism Godfrey Smith says there are inherent challenges to overcome.
Godfrey Smith, Minister of Tourism
?The need for more and better signage, the need to involve local culture and communities in a meaningful way, the need to strike the right balance in cruise tourism and overnight tourism, greater support for small entrepreneurs, the effect of crime on tourism, and of course, the taxation of the tourism industry.?
Another critical issue for the industry is the fact that more than sixty percent of Belize?s approximately five hundred hotels, mostly ten rooms or less establishments, are trapped in an advertising black hole, translating to poor occupancy rates. B.T.B.?s answer to the problem is called the Toucan Trail, a five hundred thousand dollar internet based initiative designed to expose small hotels to greater markets.
Shakira Oxley, Director, Marketing/P.R., B.T.B.
?It gives them an opportunity to basically have a marketing presence in areas where ordinarily they don?t have the financial ability to do that, they don?t have the know-how, they don?t have the expertise. So the Toucan Trail basically is going to look at developing these small properties, creating a niche for them and giving them the opportunity to be a little bit more acquainted with their clients, their markets, develop that, give them that tool that is actually going to assist them to increase their efficiency levels and become is little bit more competitive in the international marketplace.?
B.T.B.?s theme for 2005-2006 is: Tourism is our Future, Be a Part of It. According to Director of the Belize Tourism Board, Tracy Taegar-Panton, more local investors need to join the sector.
Tracy Taegar-Panton, Director, Belize Tourism Board
?There needs to more Belizean entrepreneurs to service the numbers that are coming in from the cruise lines. We hear a lot of complaints or concerns expressed by citizens that there are just a few that are manipulating that market and more Belizeans need to get involved. And we have to make sure that our Belizeans have the skills to become entrepreneurs and to be able to access whatever the opportunities may be. They could be so wide and varied, there are so many creative things that we could be doing, just improving our handicraft for example to increase the opportunities for Belizeans.?
According to the B.T.B., approximately twenty-five percent of Belize?s labour force is already involved in tourism, but Taegar says we all play a role in the sector.
Tracy Taegar-Panton
?Tourism is hard work and that it takes a lot of people to do it and to do it well. It really takes a solid partnership between the public and private sectors, and I think we have done a lot to foster that relationship over the years. There is still more work to be done but we need everybody, as many people as possible to be involved.?
According to the B.T.B., among its priority list is the completion of a National Tourism Policy, as well as a master plan for the industry.
