Press Release – BELIZE CITY, Belize – Thursday, January 20, 2022 – The Belize Tourism Industry Association (BTIA) held its 36th Annual General Meeting via Zoom earlier today. In attendance was Hon. Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism and Diaspora Relations; Director of Tourism, Mr. Evan Tillett; the Board and members of BTIA; other tourism stakeholders; and invited guests.
BTIA’s President, Stewart Krohn, took the opportunity to remind members that while the BTIA faced many challenges during the past year, the work of the Association will not only continue but expand,“Our goals include the convening of a Re-imagining Belizean Tourism Summit; a return to training with the objective of establishing a unified industry-relevant hospitality training institute; a stronger presence in all our varied destinations, including more support for BTIA operated tourism information centers. And finally, we will devote significant resources to raising the public profile of BTIA and more importantly, the status of the tourism industry in general.”
Minister of Tourism and Diaspora Relations, Hon. Anthony Mahler was the Keynote Speaker. In his address, Minister Mahler stated, “Belize had a stand-out year of performance last year, and was one of the leaders in the recovery surge in this part of the world. Interestingly, in 2021 Belize recovered approximately 54% of its tourism overnight arrivals, that is, we saw an expansion of 20% more than the global average. Similarly, in Cruise, since July 2021, we saw a return of approximately 47% of our pre-pandemic performance compared to the same time period of operations in 2019. What this equates to is the result of the relentless and strategic work done jointly over the last 15 months by our government and by you our partners in the private sector.”
A key objective of the 36th Annual General Meeting was to elect the Executive Committee members for the period 2022/2023. Elections were held for the posts of 2nd Vice President and Treasurer. By acclamation, Senator Osmany Salas will continue to serve as 2nd Vice-President and Raineldo Guerrero will continue as Treasurer. The BTIA Executive Committee for 2022 is composed as follows:
The Minutes of the 2020 AGM were adopted along with the audited financial report for the Fiscal Year 2020/2021.
The BTIA expresses gratitude to its members for their unwavering support as we continue to represent the tourism industry’s best interest. We look forward to continuing to work in partnership with the government and other key stakeholders in the recovery of our tourism industry.
Contact:
National Secretariat
Belize Tourism Industry Association
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 227-1144