The Belize Tourism Board (BTB) celebrated its signature event, the highly anticipated 16th National Tourism Awards Gala Event on Saturday, October 20th at Caribbean Motors in Belize City.

The 16th National Tourism Awards was the zenith for the accomplishments made over the past year by our local industry partners. All this hard work and dedication did not go unnoticed as the BTB acknowledged our tourism professionals in the areas of Front line Personnel, Hospitality Award, Hotel of the Year, Small Accommodations of the Year, Tour Guide of the Year, Tour Operator of the Year, Restaurant of the Year, Tour Guide Association of the Year, Major Festival/Event of the Year, Tourism Site of the Year, Top Performing Hotel, the Minister’s Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award.

The theme of the night was “Celebrating Excellence”, a setting that was most fitting for the tourism stars of Belize, which depicts the diversity of Belize’s tourism product. This year’s winners are as follows:

Category

Winner

Property/Area

Frontline Personnel

Nikita Young

Chabil Mar

Hospitality Award

Belize Chocolate Company

San Pedro

Hotel of the Year

The Lodge at Chaa Creek

Cayo

Small Accommodation of the Year

Cayo Espanto

San Pedro

Tour Guide of the Year

Carlos Hernandez

Ian Anderson’s Cave Branch

Tour Operator of the Year

Chukka Belize

Belize City

Restaurant of the Year

The Grove House by Chef Adan

Hopkins

Festival of the Year

Caye Caulker Lobster Festival

Caye Caulker

Tourism Site of the Year

St. Herman’s Blue Hole National Park

Belmopan

Top Performing Hotel

Grand Caribe

San Pedro

Tour Guide Association of the Year

San Pedro Tourist Guide Association

San Pedro

In addition, the Minister’s Award went to IIsa Villanueva from Placencia Village, while the Lifetime Achievement Award went to Ian & Ella Anderson of Ian Anderson’s Caves Branch.

The BTB would like to congratulate all the winners of the 16th National Tourism Awards as well as all nominees for the excellent work throughout the year!



The Belize Tourism Board (BTB) held its 16th National Tourism Awards on Saturday, October 22nd. The event was a grand celebration of Belize's booming tourism industry and the people who work tirelessly to make Belize one of the best tourism destinations in the region. Here are some highlights of that event�