New resource centre opens for small hotels
It may not rank with the arrival of a new airline or opening of a big hotel, but advancements in the development of tourism come in different sizes. News 5’s Janelle Chanona was on hand for one such step this morning.
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
This morning the Small Tourism Enterprises Program Resource Centre was officially opened in Belize City. According to Program Manager of STEP, Dr. George Vincent, this is the eighth such centre in the Caribbean. Vincent says the centres are a vital element in the dynamic tourism industry.
Dr. George Vincent, Program Manager, STEP
“The emphasis is on small properties to maintain internationally recognised standards. Standards, standards, standards are the main things. In order to compete in this global environment the standards has to be really high so that the small properties may compete on an even keel.”
The room may look small but the experts say users can access a wealth of information.
Dr. George Vincent
“Small tourism, small hoteliers are really busy people. So they don’t get time to come in. And this is why we created the virtual resource centre, which is caribbeaninnkeeper.com, where you can go on the internet and download the material and study the material. However, we find that in the region, a lot of hoteliers that are close by location wise use it. However, a lot of training institutes use it, the training schools, the students from culinary arts institutes, students from community colleges, hospitality institutes use the centres quite a bit. And I encourage you to expand the programme and include additional programmes that it can become the centre of focus for training in tourism.”
Andrew Godoy, Executive Director, B.T.I.A.
“Members would be able to come in and view taped materials in training, training materials in maybe hotel guestroom service, security, things like that. We found that as the tourism industry is growing there is the demand for trained individuals, and it ties in perfectly well with the training centre that we have here. We have the training centre, and now the resource centre, so with that being at the same venue, we find that individuals who come in for training could also access the resource centre and get these information.”
The centre has brought attention to Belize’s booming tourism industry, which Minister Mark Espat would like to see grow…especially where small hotels are concerned.
Mark Espat, Minister of Tourism
“Of our four hundred and twenty or four hundred and thirty registered hotels, the average size is just eleven rooms and we have only three hotels that are larger than fifty rooms. And so really, that is what differentiates Belize from so many of our other competitors in the Caribbean, in Central America, and indeed in the world. The hotel sector represents about twenty-five percent of the two hundred and forty-two million dollars in receipts that tourism generated last year. And we must make a greater effort to ensure that more Belizeans become involved, more Belizeans own small hotels, more Belizeans work in small hotels and in small enterprises if tourism is to be sustainable in the long term.”
Reporting for News 5, I am Janelle Chanona.
The resource centre is located at number Ten North Park Street at the Belize Tourism Industry Association building. Opening hours are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday to Friday.
