B.T.B. reviews marketing as tourism growth slows

In last night’s newscast we hinted that the year end statistics released by the Belize Tourism Board may have been shaped by a certain amount of wishful thinking. For example, a figure was presented showing a four point five percent increase in total tourist arrivals. What we weren’t told, however, is that arrivals at the international airport–the best indicator of true tourist traffic–rose by a less robust two point three percent. Today News 5’s Stewart Krohn spoke to Tourism Director, Tracy Panton to see if we should be concerned over what appears to be a significant slowdown in the industry’s traditional growth.

Tracy Panton, Director of Tourism
“I think that concern is important and I think that we are at the stage where we really need to look critically at what we are doing, not only in the public sector but also in the private sector. When you look at the competitive spends to worth in Central America and the Caribbean, Belize is way below that. We are being outspent three to one by our Central American neighbours and five to one by Caribbean partners.”

Stewart Krohn
“This is in marketing?”

Tracy Panton
“In terms of marketing, and so we have to look at that, at the competitive spend is one of the issues. We also have to look at the market readiness of our infrastructure and the kinds of products that we are offering. I don’t know if you this statistic Stewart, but twenty percent of our hotels are generating eighty percent of the revenues, and so we need to look at what’s happening with that other eighty percent.”

Condominiums: Good Or Bad?

Tracy Panton
“It’s a good thing from the point of view that there is investment dollars that are coming in, in some cases for the sale of those condominiums, and people come and stay longer periods of time. It is a bad thing for the hotels because they are not staying in the hotels. If you look at the trend in terms of development in Belize, timeshares, fractionals and condominiums are on an increase and we have to look at how we can capture that in the tourism mix.”

Big Or Small?

Tracy Panton
“I don’t think that we want to become a mass tourism destination, but we do recognize that there is a need to invite some flagship hotels or larger properties, as anchor properties, so that we may be able to expand our markets. For example, as we expand the runway, the European carriers will come in, and they need room blocks, and intimate hotels with ten rooms cannot provide sufficient room blocks for some of the major wholesalers who have an interest in working with Belize. So we have to have to look at creating that delicate balance.”

New Blood Needed In Marketing?

Tracy Panton
“I think maybe the marketing spin may seem stale to us, but when you look at that the awareness building, and the branding of the destination in the international markets that is where I think the true test should come. This year, for example, we are going to do extensive research to test how our marketing spend is affecting our arrivals, and what is effective, what isn’t effective in the long and short term. New blood is always good. It adds new energy, but we don’t want to fix something if it’s not quite broken.”

Cruise Tourism Blues?

Tracy Panton
“I think that we will see at the end of this year somewhere between an eighteen to twenty percent decline in cruise arrivals. There are external factors and, obviously, internal factors that affect that. I think, as we said before this interview Stewart, that the infrastructure has to be in place and the management mechanisms have to be in place, if not we are going to lose ground…and ground that will be very difficult for us to recover. So a slowing down of the numbers, in my view, is not such a bad thing, but we have to be competitive in the market that we are operating in and we are not quite there yet.”

Panton says that the question of a new cruise port for Belize City has yet to be resolved.