The Belize Tourism Board held it's annual industry presentation today at the Bliss Center for the Performing Arts. Over a hundred industry stakeholders and industry leaders gathered at the Bliss to hear about the BTB's performance in the past year and its plans for the new year.
Jules Vasquez Reporting,
It is an industry of superlatives, the best dressed executives, the sharpest looking show, the highest profile, the greatest revenue, in short the best of all worlds - and if you don't believe, just check the numbers.
Hon. Mark Espat, Minister of Tourism
"Arrival statistics in tourism tell the story best with overnight arrivals increasing for the fifth consecutive year by a significant region leading 11%. Cruise arrivals surged by a hemisphere leading 85%. All together almost 800,000 individual visitors saw the Belize tourism product in 2003. As a snapshot of the wider increase in tourism receipts, hotel revenues rose by 28% with overall industry receipts expected to exceed $300 million this year."
Region leading, hemisphere leading and all but there are concerns. With the ever-encroaching cruise tourism, tourism planners have to make sure the tourism product is not degraded by volume.
Tracy Taeger, Director of Tourism
"We agree that the current growth trends are not sustainable."
"The BTB takes seriously its guiding philosophy for responsible tourism development. We fully subscribe to the principle of managed growth. This might seem like a contradiction when we consider the exponential growth in cruise tourism. The cruise sector is here and its here to stay.
And to correct imbalances, The Tourism Board is taking the $500,000 it got from the cruise ship head tax last year and investing it into a project called the toucan trail which will offer an internet marketing hub for hotels - particularly within the country - that are suffering with occupancy rates of 20% - half the national average and one third the Caribbean's average.
Shakira Samuels-Oaxley, BTB Marketing Director
"The Toucan trail will become a business hub for small hotels. Additionally, it serves to increase the marketing effort and exposure of small hotels. We also hope to increase the occupancy ratio allowing for year round operation."
That's $500,000 of a record $4.78 million the tourism board plans to spend on marketing of a total budget of 9.8 million dollars.
7NEWS produced for broadcast by News Director Jules Vasquez
Edited for the internet by Keith Swift