U.B. sponsors tourism symposium

Today students of the University of Belize took the afternoon off to attend a symposium on tourism. The presentation was held under the theme, Tourism: Redefining a New Path for Belize. It was organized by the Belize Tourism Board and U.B. as part of activities celebrating Tourism Week. Sharret Yearwood, a lecturer from the university, says that when it comes to tourism we often want to take more than we give.

Sharret Yearwood, Lecturer, U.B.

“We have been in tourism for quite a while now, and there really hasn’t been anything set out for the public to ask them well what do you want from tourism. And we say when we talk about tourism, we talk that it is for everybody, yet there are some people who still question what tourism is all about. So we thought that it would be a good way to get out the message for people to come in and ask questions. Since the symposium is looking at a cross section of tourism industry, we are looking at the accommodations sector, transportation, attractions and the like.”

“What we hope will happen is that people will come out and say, well this is what I can do for tourism rather than saying what can tourism do for me. Cause a lot of times people ask, well what’s in it for me? So what can we do to help tourism to boom for Belize.”

Keynote speaker at the symposium was Dr. Ian Boxill, a tourism scholar from the University of the West Indies. Tourism week continues tonight with the third annual National Tourism Awards at the Biltmore.