Belize’s Tourism Leaders Confront Growing Industry Challenges

The Belize Tourism Industry Association marked its forty-first anniversary today by bringing tourism leaders and partners together to tackle the industry’s biggest challenges. From sargassum and sustainability to Belize’s competitiveness, BTIA President Efren Perez says stronger public-private cooperation will drive continued growth and shared prosperity.

 

Efren Perez, President, BTIA

“I think it is now looking at what has happened, where we are at this stage, and what are those gaps that are still in the tourism industry that we need the private sector to be a part of. We need them to be a part of that discussion because decisions that need to be taken for the industry needs to be something that will be that we can say is going to be a shared prosperity so that everybody can benefit from it and that effort can trickle down to all the different segments of the industry.”

 

Britney Gordon

“ What would you say is the most productive thing to come out of these meetings?”

 

Efren Perez

“You know, I think for me, it is actually trying to organize our private sector. Um, looking at what hotels are doing, looking at tour operators and those that act as travel agencies and destination management companies within Belize, organizing them so that they’re able to participate now in greater events both regionally and internationally and the reason for that is because they have  a wider reach. They’re selling not only one property or one hotel, they’re selling a wide range. And so if we’re able to really start to look at our industry holistically, seeing those gaps that exist, then it gives us an idea in terms of where we need to make more investments in trainings and providing them with the tools necessary for them to be able to be much more successful in the industry.”

 

Perez says that stakeholders discussed one of the tourism industry’s most pressing challenges remains the growing sargassum influx, prompting a push for stronger collaboration, funding and coordinated national action to develop more effective long-term solutions.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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