Tourism arrivals exceed one hundred thousand in 1999

On a bright note for tourism, a production team will be visiting various points of interest in Belize this week in order to make several commercials that will be aired later this year in the United States. Belize Tourism Board Director Tracy Taegar says the television ads are the next phase of an aggressive marketing campaign that began last year with print ads and magazine articles. Two new brochures for potential tourists and travel agents have also been produced. All the promotion seems to be paying off, at the least according to B.T.B. which is reporting that for the first time tourist arrivals passed the one hundred thousand mark at the Philip S.W. Goldson International in 1999. Taegar says the figure represents a five point three percent increase over 1998 and it was not an easy climb given the effects of Mitch.

Tracy Taegar, Director, B.T.B.

“I would say Karla, it’s very significant, especially with the Mitch situation that we had to deal with this year. We were down for the first quarter by thirteen percent. We have been able to recover completely with the numbers. And for the fourth quarter of this year we are looking at a twenty-four percent increase over ’98 and a twelve percent increase over ’97 so I think that those are significant numbers.

There has been the completion of two new brochures. There’s a water sports activity guide and an inland adventure guide, which is used to target our two key markets: the market that comes for the marine activities and the market that is here for soft adventure, whether it is archaeology, budget trails, birding, flora and fauna, that sort of thing.”

Taegar says reports from hoteliers throughout the country indicate that about thirty percent of those who came to Belize last year had been here before. The B.T.B. will be looking for ways to encourage this type of repeat business and cater to these tourists over the coming year.