On Monday, June 13th, and Tuesday, 14th, the Belize Tourism Board (BTB) inaugurated the ‘Elevate Training Program’ for tourism stakeholders under the theme ‘Defining Customer Service and Leadership.’ The project started with its first training/workshops in San Pedro Town, Ambergris Caye, and will then engage stakeholders across the country. Elevate offers five sub-programs, including the Ambassador, BEST, Scale Up, Taste, and Safe training, all aimed at improving the Belizean tourism product.
The sessions in San Pedro were held in the conference room at the Sunbreeze Hotel on Coconut Drive. The training was conducted by Claudine Pohl of Lemoneight, a tourism-based consulting firm located in Atlantic, Canada. On Monday, the workshop targeted tourism businesses within town, and on Tuesday, stakeholders from the Secret Beach area were invited to participate. The sessions saw representatives from restaurants, hotels, tour operators, the transportation sector, and the local aviation industry, along with representatives from the Hol Chan Marine Reserve.
BTB’s Quality Management and Capacity Development Manager, Varsha Clarke-Martinez explained that under the Elevate training program, they are starting with the Ambassador training. This entails capacity building in service excellence across the tourism value chain. She explained that the other sub-programs like BEST, looks at the business component of training. Scale Up is specific for tour guides, followed by the Taste program targeting the culinary segment of the industry. The Safe program looks at safety and emergency planning along with first responders.
This training will engage tourism stakeholders across the country at no cost. “The program is being piloted for three years, and it will be offered to persons in tourism from the different destinations around the country,” said Martinez.
After San Pedro, the training will move to Caye Caulker, Belize City, and next week to the northern districts of Corozal and Orange Walk. In July, the BTB team will be reaching out to the west and south tourism destinations of the country.
