BTB’s B.O.O.M ( Building on Our Momentum)

Tourism stakeholders gathered in Belize City today for B.T.B.’s BOOM Forum. The event featured a wide range of speakers, including local and international experts on tourism. It is organized to update stakeholders on the marketing strategies the Belize Tourism Board is employing to attract visitors. The forum is also used to disseminate information on emerging tourism products. Stakeholders often leave with a greater understanding of why people are travelling and what they are looking for. News Five’s Paul Lopez reports.

 

Paul Lopez, Reporting

The worlds of emerging technology and emerging tourist destinations are colliding through virtual reality headsets. Meridian Treehouse is behind this technological tool being used in the United States to promote Belize to potential visitors through virtual immersion.

 

Wesley Della Volla, Meridian Treehouse 

“Today we had the prime example of it, we have someone who came in and she went diving with us and our VR and said, I have never been diving before, and now I want to. That’s the great thing about virtual reality, your brain thinks that it is a memory. So your brain thinks and processes VR differently than you would just sit and watch a video. So, your brains remember it as a memory and thinks it is something you have done. You say, ok this is something I have done before, and I can do it again. So, it great for tourism, a way to get people to come see a country, like Belize. Perfect example was right there, great I have seen the coral reef, a little bit of it, I want to go see more of it.”

 

Attendees of the Belize Tourism Board’s BOOM Forum received a firsthand experience of what potential Belize City for tourism stakeholders from across the country. The Minister of Tourism, Anthony Mahler, told us more.

 

Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism

“This is what we call BOOM, building on our momentum and it is just to keep the private sector and Belize informed of what we are doing, in terms of marketing and in some instances product development. January was a very strong month, February was a breaking month and for the first time in history we did over sixty thousand in March, close to seventy thousand. And those are very strong numbers compared to the bench mark which is 2019. That is about almost eighteen percent over that. Our main strategy was to build a strong airlift into the country. We have worked tirelessly with the private sector to ensure we make noise all across the world and to ensure we focus on our key source market specifically and we have worked in partnership with the private sector to have these numbers.”

 

According to statistics, approximately eighty-six percent of the U.S. population says they intend to travel this year. Fifty-nine percent of the population, or more than one hundred and fifty million Americans, will travel abroad. The Belize Tourism Board is partnering with The Zimmerman Agency to attract some of those travellers to Belize.

 

Cole Zimmerman, Senior Vice President, The Zimmerman Agency

“We are a three sixty agency, we do anything from the website to marketing efforts, to research, to PR to social media, to media buying. We are a one stop shop for Belize and it really helps because we don’t have to talk to other agencies about what we are doing. We collaborate together with the BTB and Belize in general. Our effort is to get people from the United States to Belize by any means necessary. But, we have a very strategic approach utilizing research and data to help us narrow down our audience, all the way down the down to the zip code. Some top things the U.S market really likes about Belize is the fact that it is the only market in the Central America that speaks English as a main language, as well as the U.S dollar. So just some key points, outside the people and the beautiful destination that make it simple to get here.”

And, as Belize’s tourism products continue to improve and attract visitors from across the world, Minister Mahler says it is not lost on him that there is a lot more work to do as an emerging destination. 

 

Anthony Mahler

“We are still an emerging destination, so improvements to the airport is important, improvement to the infrastructure is important. We need more electricity on San Pedro. WE need more water on Placencia Peninsula and we need more amenities at the attractions and those are the things we ar3e working on as well. But, we have high end products, middle income products and products for people at the lower end of the spectrum and so we have something for everyone.”

 

Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.