It’s not been widely reported but for the first time in a very
long while tourism arrival figures for the month of May were down. The experts
say it’s no cause for panic really, but there is a creeping fear that
it could be the first sign of a trend. Which is why Belize tourism product and
the industry’s confidence in that product is in desperate need of a jump
start to raise hopes about sagging arrival figures. And the Tourism Board hopes
that signing on with a new marketing firm is that shot in the arm. It’s
no lightly made move or slight manoeuvre; it is bold, the last marketing company
retained Richartz, Fliss, Clarke and Pope shepherded Belize’s tourism
product through the last 10 years, from 1998 to 2008. But with a new government
and new realities in the travel and leisure industry, particularly in North
America the BTB figured it was time for a change and they introduced that today.
Jules Vasquez Reporting,
Tourism stakeholders of all interests and backgrounds packed into the Cahal
Pech Room at the Radisson to hear about Belize’s new brand from its new
marketing agency.
Shakira Oxley, Director of Marketing
“BVK came out on top for their creativity, knowledge, skills, and
expertise which demonstrated a strong potential to strengthen and refresh the
marketing strategies of the Belizean tourism product.”
Santino Castillo, Chairman – BTB
“After dotting our Is and crossing our Ts we are finally managed to
embark on a new journey with BVK, our new partner for the next few years.”
And for the next few years, images like these will be the new international
face of Belize.
[Clip of promotional video]
And though those images are captured off a projection screen – and needs
a serious re-editing to take out the image of Chichen Itza – which is
in Mexico – BVK says the images are meant to provide an emotional connection
to this destination. The marketing logic is that Belize needs to broaden its
appeal to a wider range and type of visitors.
Tracy Panton, BTB Director
“The targeted audience is rooted in a lot of research that has been 
specifically for Belize through BVK and we feel that we will be able to get
a broader cross section of potential visitors to Belize.”
And that logic had success with the Tourism Board.
Tracy Panton,
“A few months ago we invited a branding company to come to Belize
to look at the options we had and after lots of consultations with the private
sector we felt that we were satisfied with the brand and what we really need
to do was reposition the brand in a way that would be meaningful for Belize
and we think that BVK would be able to do that for us.”
And all those advantages need to accrue almost immediately. In May for the
first time in years, arrivals were down.
Jules Vasquez,
Is this a time of crisis or concern, in terms of do they have to turn on the 
after burners rather quickly?
Tracy Panton,
“Yes they do. We are obviously in a very challenging time. We are
looking at recession in the United States, the US is still our greatest source
market, and so yes, they will have to push their mettle if you will for us to
recover some of the losses we’ve seen because of the economic crisis.”
Jan Frank, Senior Vice President - BVK
“With our experience in the travel industry, we know that people are
interested in Belize. We’ve interviewed 16,000 people, we know that they
are interested in coming here. We know that the Belizean government is working
on partnerships with the airlines so hopefully between our experience in the
travel industry and the partnerships with the airlines that we will be able
to bring more people to your country.”
And if you ask the hotel owners in this room today, they had better deliver
on that promise and fast.
BVK is also the marketing firm for the Dominican Republic, the Caribbean
destination with the greatest number of tourist arrivals.
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