More than forty members of the Belize
Hotel Association (BHA) united this past week at the SunBreeze Hotel in
San Pedro for the Assoc- iation's Annual General Meeting. BHA
Administrator Suzette Gibson welcomed those attending and introduced the
outgoing board members present: President Julia Edwards, Treasurer Janet
Woollam, Secretary Lucy Fleming, and Directors Ben Ruoti, Einer Gomez and
Teresa Parkey.
Minutes of the last AGM were read by the secretary
followed by the president's report which began by making apologies for
those who could not attend. President Edwards then reflected on the good
year BHA had quoting "high occupancy rates, record tourist arrivals, -and
the great strides they have made through marketing." She mentioned the
various trade shows attended and those upcoming. President Edwards then
gave credit to the Belize Tourism Board for their interest and dedication
in marketing Belize. She also praised BTB's support of the recently
published Travel Planner, an annual publication that will have a
projected distribution of 75,000 with the European market to receive an
estimated 35,000. Further mentioned were the success of destination
training, the Bulk Purchasing Program, the Outreach awareness campaign
and the BHA's lobbying efforts in regards to the Hotel Act, the new tax
systems and San Pedro's San Mateo Subdivision. Ms. Edwards then wished
success and the best of luck to the upcoming Board of Directors.
As her final act as President for this year, Ms.
Edwards introduced guest speaker, Emory King. Mr. King, one of Belize's
most famous storytellers, was asked to relate the history of tourism in
Belize. The sixty-nine year-old historian delighted and entertained those
gathered with much about this "strange and wonderful country". He
mentioned how, oddly enough, hurricanes started the economy's cash flow
rolling in this country with the amount of relief funds from Great
Britain matching the insurance payoffs. Mr. King stated he became
secretary of the government's first tourism board in 1954 when the only
big hotel in Belize City was the Fort George. He continued that it was
not until the 70s that tourism came to be in San Pedro beginning with
Holiday Hotel, then Paradise Hotel and the Ambergris Lodge. Mr. King
relayed that throughout the years, with every new Minister of Tourism
came "new rules, regulations, laws and taxes, but thankfully, the current
Minister is actually promoting tourism as well." Emory King ended by
thanking everyone and introducing the second speaker of the meeting, Mrs.
Valerie Woods-Smith, Director of the Protected Areas Conservation Trust
(PACT).
Mrs. Woods-Smith opened her speech by saying how
different her views on tourism are now that she has moved from the
Tourism Board to actually having a "hands on" with the real product at
PACT. In mentioning how far the tourism industry has come, she stressed
the need to properly manage our destination's resources as the traffic
flow in them increases. Mrs. Woods-Smith cautioned association members to
remember to protect our natural resources as they work on bridging the
gaps between seasons and to consider possibly an open/close season for
some areas. The PACT director stated since visitor levels are not out of
hand yet, this is the time to establish guidelines and create awareness
of conservation for our tourists and ourselves.
Next on the agenda for the AGM was the
dissolution of the old and election of the new Board of Directors. In a
quick and orderly fashion the new officers were voted in and announced
as: President Lucy Fleming,
1st Vice President
Maria Otero, 2nd Vice
President Ben Ruoti, Secretary Ann Wood, Treasurer Chris Burkey, and
Directors Einer Gomez, Teresa Parkey, Eduardo Aguilar and Ian Lizarraga.
Incoming President Fleming then thanked everyone for their confidence and
stated the BHA is made up of individual members who work as a team
voluntarily. She stated that because of their investments in Belize they
are essentially the "driving force of the tourism industry." She ended
her acceptance speech by striving to strengthen the association with more
members during her term in office.
Director Einer Gomez thanked those gathered and
invited them to a BBQ lunch at BC's Bar. A drink voucher was kindly
provided to all attending by Tropic Air for their support of the BHA.
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