Belize is going beyond her traditional tourist suppliers, North America and Europe, to woo visitors from Central America.

Last week Belize conducted a two-day presentation to travel agents in El Salvador and Panama in association with two regional airline carriers, TACA and Avianca, in partnership with the Belize Hotels Association.

For many of the targetted tourist houses, such an in-depth introduction to Belize and the country's many offerings was a first time experience. The overarching goal with each presentation was to increase the awareness and knowledge of Belize so that they could effectively sell and promote the country as a vacation destination to their clients.

At the end of each presentation, each agent was given promotional brochures, including the Destination Belize magazine, maps, and other useful contact information that will aid them in answering questions posed by their clients. Both presentations had some one hundred agents attending.

"We will continue to aggressively market Belize through presentations that demonstrate greater opportunity for exposure within our core target markets for travel specialists", says Michelle Bowers, BTB Travel Trade Manager.

"Belize's diversity is a big positive that allows its business partners flexibility. We will continue to build relations with those international operators who are interested in bringing more business to Belize."

Thanks to TACA Airlines and other industry partners in Belize, the BTB Travel Trade team was able to do a promotion at the end of the El Salvador presentation.

Two vacation packages were given away and one included round-trip flight transfers for two with Avianca and TACA.

The Reporter