AmbergrisCaye.com Home
Posted By: Marty Destination Belize, Edition 17 - 02/16/13 02:15 PM
The Belize Tourism Industry Association today launched the 2013 edition of the Destination Belize Magazine. As the official visitor magazine for the past 16 years, Destination Belize Magazine is a big deal in tourism circles because it's a major part of how potential visitors find out about Belize.

The publisher told us about what's included in the 2013 edition.

Demian Solano, Publisher
"When this concept came about I said they are perfect and it took several months trying to coordinate but we finally did it. I will show you how this cover is done; basically they had a bit of a two-step dance about 100 times. That's what it took. I want to thank them for their patience in working with me on the cover and I think that it does bring this message across. We presented it to all the key stakeholders and the decision makers and I think that it was agreed that - two things; never before was the cover shoot - it was always trying to compile data like trying to come up with something. Starting last year we said that the cover requires attention, it's the most important piece in the book and decide to shoot. This year I think that everybody agreed that this is what we've been trying to do for a very long time - finally it's something that works well and it has good acceptance, so we are very happy about this."

"One on the opening spreads actually shows the two pictures that were taken to create the cover. If you notice we took the half of Kelly at the reef and we took the half of Paul at the waterfall combine it and with a little Photoshop magic we've made it work very well. Its not a green screen, it's not like we put two different graphics - its two genuine pictures put together that work very well to make the cover. We are really excited about how it turned out."

"I think all of you are dying to get your hands on the magazines which are there on the racks and I'll just go over some of the creative what you can find inside. This is one of the spreads of Prince Harry visits. I think all you of will agree that seeing Prince Harry will have a great impact and it does a lot to sell Belie product. We have a diving map with some great pictures there as well. We try to keep the same format, people get used to format and its not good to change it in every edition. People expect to find things in a certain way. All of the images are fresh and all the lighting is fresh but obviously we kept the format that people will expect."

The magazine is made available widely at tourism destinations and travel agents worldwide.

Channel 7

Posted By: Marty Re: Destination Belize, Edition 17 - 02/21/13 02:11 PM

Belize Tourism Industry Association launches 2013 Destination Belize Magazine

The Belize Tourism Industry Association BTIA launched the 2013 edition of "Destination Belize" on Friday, February 15th at the Radisson Fort George Hotel & Marina. The launching took place in the Caracol Room and commenced shortly after 10AM. Presenters at the event included: President of the BTIA, Mr. Herbert Haylock; Executive Director of BTIA Mr. Efren Perez and Publisher of Destination Belize, Mr. Demian Solano of Idea Lab Studios.

The 2013 edition of Destination Belize marks the 17th edition of the travel magazine and was published for the second year by Belize's IdeaLab Studios.Titled, "The Best of Both Worlds", the tourism magazine was aimed to capture the best of all that Belize has to offer. "The Best of Both Worlds" cover image captures the beauty of the islands, the aqua waters that line our shores, the world's second longest barrier reef and the sandy beaches,all contrasting with the towering waterfalls and pristine jungles of the Maya Mountains.The featured models are San Pedro's very own Paul and Kelly German, residents and businesspeople.Their photos were taken in two places: San Pedro, Ambergris Caye and the Mountain Pine Ridge, Cayo, both are locations that, according to Publisher Demian Solano, showcase how much there is to do in Belize.


Destination Belize 2013 is all about Belize. The writers are all either Belizean born; have made Belize their home or have had wonderful experiences in Belize. Writers include well known journalist Janelle Chanona who also doubled as writer recruiter for this project; and contributing writers are Joshua Samuel Brown, Lucy Fleming, Jaime J. Awe, Ph. D., Chef Rob Pronk, Kate Joynes-Burgess, Scott Lone, Brent Toombs, Mike Heusner, Joshua Berman, Sharon Matola, Therese Martinez, Evan "Mose" Hyde, Glen Wilson, Linda Searle, Erin De Santiago - Domue, Victoria Day - Wilson and Ingrid Cayetano.

Janelle Chanona spoke to The San Pedro Sun of her experience writing for Destination Belize 2013. "We had a powwow and we talked about things that were exciting, really grabbing attention. So Prince Harry was the biggest thing last year so that was very easy. Rebecca [Stirm]had just returned from Jamaica and the same thing with Miss [Linda]Blease. I had done the whale shark dive and that was something that I thought was just so tremendous and very much needed to be shared." This marks the second year that Chanona has contributed to Destination Belize, and she was also involved in the planning phase of the magazine.

So, what does it take to be a contributing writer in Destination Belize? Well, if you feel your story is worth sharing and impacts the country positively, then you could be a contributing writer. For example, a visitor was at Hatchet Caye with his son, and reading through the 2012 copy of the magazine, thought that their story would be a good one to share. So, he contacted the publishers and what do you know - it's now featured in 2013 Destination Belize!The father and son story entitled "Where would you like to go?" is featured on pages 66-68. Chanona commented that the biggest pleasure derived from the final product is seeing individuals carrying around the magazine as if it were a popular magazine in the states. "I think it's definitely a labour of love. I believe that this time around this is definitely the best. The magazine is more than just a guide book; it's something that people want to keep reading."

Destination Belize 2013 includes articles such as Our Underwater World, Hearing the Voice of Belize, Wishes for Whale Sharks, Rising from the Ruins, See your Belizean Bliss and much more, including a piece on Fashion and Music in Belize.For more information on Destination Belize orhow you can be added to their mailing list - visit destinationbelize.com or contact the Belize Tourism Industry Association via email at [email protected].

© Ambergris Caye Belize Message Board