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Today the BTB held its second Annual Elevate Training Expo at the Biltmore. They partnered with Florida International University, and certified local trainers to provide training to industry workers in restaurants, accommodation, tour operators, tour guides, and tourism attraction personnel.
Jomarie Lanza attended the expo today, she has this report:
The BTB has taken a new approach at hosting its annual ELEVATE training expo. This time they have reached out to both International and local experts to pass on their knowledge and experience to those employed within the tourism sector, seeking centralized training opportunities from the two day expo.
Attendees will get a chance to walk through the different sub programmes and areas that will be addressed during the expo, primarily named Safe, Taste, Ambassador, ScaleUp, and Best.
Lloyd Enriquez, Director of Cruise and Capacity Development
"This our second annual Elevate training expo, it's the second year we are having this expo. And what we have done is we have brought in experts from all over the world and locally as well to expose and build capacity among our tourism practitioners countrywide so you have people in academia people in schools who are practitioners working in the industry tour guides restaurateurs, you name it and they are here today and we are expecting over these two days over 300 people to attend."
"It's about elevating our capacity. We want to compete globally and Belize is not only a regional competitor but also a global competitor in the tourism sphere. So it's about service delivery making sure our people are equipped with the tools, skills and knowledge that we need to offer the best service ever so when our visitors come here they walk away feeling wow i had a great experience in belize and this is one way we can impart the skills. It's two days condensed and packed and they can go back to their places of business and their places of work and implement these skills and practices they want."
Director of Tourism Evan Tillett says that the main objective of Elevate is to improve Belize's visitor experience, while maintaining the sector's authenticity:
Evan Tillett, Director of Tourism
"Well I think for us training is obviously a priority and having the training expo just highlights the need for us to raise the service exponent within the country and we are not looking at only the bottom line training programmes but we are also looking at the high level training programmes and hence why we've partnered with Florida international university, Lemoneight and also use the talents of our local trainers as well which is important because if we are going to advance the service level in the tourism industry then we must focus on training. At the end of the day our main goal is to develop a training academy that will allow for constant and consistent training across the industry."
"Authenticity is critical in today's visitor experience. For us the service level i think needs a push and hence why we are focusing on training because that is the way we can elevate the experiences that we have in Belize."
Reporter:
"Would you say that this falls in line with the high season approaching? So you guys expect to get better reviews and a better outcome, come December?"
Lloyd Enriquez, Director of Cruise and Capacity Development
"Excellent, excellent point indeed you'd notice, September October things start to go down in terms of our tourism arrivals or tourist arrivals so this is the best time for us to retool and re- equip, gather everybody, do our trainings so come high season November December we are ready to go."
The BTB expects more than 300 persons to attend the two day expo.
