The seminar was called 'Thinking out of the box' and according to some, that is what it will take for Belize's tourism industry to survive after January 1st. Why? Well in 2006, Belize will open its borders to the 6 million residents of the Caribbean when the single market and economy comes into effect. For starters competition for jobs won't be just local it will be regional and at today's seminar, the effects of the CSME on tourism were discussed. Everything was on the table, from the lack of protection for our tour guides and tour operators, to spending our marketing dollars wisely. BTIA's President Lucy Fleming told us why the industry has to change from the inside out.
Lucy Fleming, BTIA President
"And we feel that with the playing field becoming more and more leveled with globalization, its more important that we all starting thinking out of the box. While we look at these ventures that we are becoming involved in we see all of the opportunities which we have and which we'll be sharing with the other member countries. We'll be expanding out network to 6 million people, so to speak, and we see that there are real opportunities but we also need to look inside our box. That is why looking outside the box is really first looking inside the box and seeing what we have to offer and what we can gain from these enterprises that we are entering into in the latter part of this year. Certainly we have all the right ingredients. There are a couple of things that we really need to discuss in terms of protecting our human resources, as we know that's our number one asset. So we're still in negotiations about how we can protect these resources but aside from that we have the product and we have the capability so, yes, I believe it will be a great benefit to the tourism industry."
Allen Fliss, RFCP Advertising Agency
"The gist of the presentation is really telling the members of the BTIA that they're not doing things wrong. Belize is really doing everything right and not to look over their shoulders but only to focus ahead in what has now become a very competitive global situation."
Today's seminar was part of BTIA's twentieth anniversary celebration. We should note that Belize has not met all the requirements for implementation of the CMSE. In fact out of the thirteen countries only three have so far met those requirements. Belize and the other 9 countries will be given two years to fully comply with the CSME.
