The Board of Directors, Management and Staff of the Belize Tourism Board extends Prosperous New Year greetings to each of our valued stakeholders. May this year bring you joy, peace and great success.
In early December Belize welcomed back its first journalist since the border closure in early 2020 due to COVID-19. Contributing Editor for Garden & Gun promoted Belize’s adventure sports and exceptional fly fishing. Garden & Gun— the national luxury lifestyle magazine celebrating the modern South and the best in Southern food, travel, literature, and sporting culture, reaches 400,000+ monthly readers with an average HHI of $370,000.

In exchange for hosting Contributing Editor Eddie Nickens, Belize will receive print inclusion in a four to six-page editorial (and corresponding digital piece), to run in the upcoming Spring/Summer 2021 issue.  

While in country Eddie experienced flyfishing and adventure at Turneffe Island Resort.  
Belize’s Exhale assets continue to be promoted via our paid support with banner ads, social display, e-blasts, content partnerships, and video placements.


click on the image below to view ads:
Here are a few of our Exhale videos:
Top Stories

Below are a few highlights for December where Belize gained significant exposure via our proactive pitching and direct media requests:


USA
“Warm Weather Destinations” -TravelPulse – see HERE
“Hottest Destinations” - MSN News – see HERE
“Rum Pum Pum Punch” The Local Palate – see HERE



Europe
“10 Travel Trends for 2021" - Conde Nast Traveller  – see HERE
“Best Travel Destinations” - Daily Express – see HERE


Canada
“Holiday Expereinces” - TravelZoo Blog— see HERE
“Mysterious Spots”- MSN Canada – see HERE
“Lockdown Feast” - Zoomer Magazine – see HERE
“After COVID Destinations” - Big Daddy Kreativ – see HERE
“Holiday Traditions” - OpenJaw – see HERE
“Time to Book Travel” CTV News – see HERE
“Christmas Celebrations” - Holr Magazine – see HERE


Key Press Releases
Releases on what’s new in 2021 in our main source markets resulted in the following exposure:

“Great 2021 Offerings" - Canadian Travel News – see HERE
“What’s new in Belize” - Travel Agent Central – see HERE
“Belize Hotel Openings” - DRIFT Magazine – see HERE
“Belize Faces 2021” Holr Magazine – see HERE

Key Promotions

The Minister of Tourism and Disapora Relations promoted the destination and spoke on his vision and future via Belizing.com in a recent podcast. Listen to this enlightening conversation HERE. 

BTB embarked on a Stay Home/Stay Safe PR campaign to encourage Belizeans to take the necessary safety precautions and minimize social interactions over the holidays. The first phase of the campaign included a safety message from the Minister of Tourism, sharing of COVID-prevention ads from the Ministry of Health and Wellness, a ‘Stay Safe’ social media campaign which incorporated print and video ads on BTB’s Facebook page, and a partnership with SMART Belize to disseminate safety advisory messages via text blasts to their customers. 
As a part of our ongoing partnership with Signature Travel Network, Belize is the “Destination of the Month” for January 2021. The campaign features:

  •  an announcement page with Belize articles, 

  • spotlight in weekly B2B emails that go out to over 6,000 advisors, 

  • Destination spotlight in the Signature member Facebook group, 

  • Destination spotlight throughout Signet (member intranet), and 

  • a consumer-facing email that sent to around 150,000 consumers.


Belize also secured editorial coverage; view HERE.
Belize’s current Gold Standard (GS) program secured the nod of the WTTC and in December Belize received its WTTC Safe Travels stamp. This is a specially designed stamp that enables travelers to recognize destinations around the world which have adopted standardized global health and hygiene protocols. 


The BTB is finalizing details as to how the Safe Travels Stamp will be issued to Gold Standard entities, and details will be shared on this shortly.
Congratulations to all our industry partners who have achieved Gold Standard certification! To date, more than 50% of accommodations (some 456 properties) and more than 60% (213) of tour operators have been certified; 17 tourism entities have been recognized by the program and are actively working to exceed travelers’ expectations on safety and health protocols. 
 
We continue to highlight all GS entities on our social platforms; here are a few examples:
OTT Destination Unlock - #PackYourBacks to Belize and win a Fam Trip!

On December 1, the BTB collaborated with Brighter Group to conduct an informal Destination Unlock Session hosted by Online Travel Training (OTT). We invited the Belize Hotel Association and Tropic Air to speak on behalf of the Hotels and Airlift aspects of Belize. The discussions were highly engaging with questions about experiences that people can do while they are in the country. As an incentive to encourage Travel Advisors to become a Belize Specialist, we gave away 4 spots on a future FAM trip to any agent who completed the OTT Belize Specialist Program and were the most engaged during the Destination Unlock session. More than 650 Travel Advisors visited the webinar page.
"Recovery Starts Here. Recovery Starts Now" - TMLA

Travel Mart Latin America (TMLA) is an annual B2B tourism event for building business in Latin America from world-wide markets. This year’s event took place on December 7-10 in a virtual format under the theme, “Recovery Starts Here. Recovery Starts Now.” The event kicked-off with keynote sessions, pre-scheduled meetings, and open networking sessions between buyers and sellers. The BTB took part and invited the BHA to be part of the meetings with the Tour Operators. These meetings allowed us to reconnect with existing Wholesalers in North America and also build rapport with prospective ones. 
Here are a few posts to highlight on our Social Media platforms:
Share & Earn

What’s new in your neck of the woods - a tour, new cooking class at your property, or an expansion? If you are Gold Standard certified, let us know at industryrelations@belizetourismboard.org and we will share the news with our international media and trade in an effort to earn coverage and exposure for you.

Thanks to Naia Resort and Spa for sharing some updates with us; here is some coverage they received:
Read full article HERE.
More virtual press trips are coming up soon!!

Gold Standard certified and want to be a part of this? Send us an email today.
More Live Instagram Inspections are coming up soon!!

Gold Standard certified and want to be a part of this? Send us an email today.
Become a Belize Travel Specialist!

We designed the Belize Travel Specialist Program to give travel advisors a well-rounded knowledge of Belize as a travel destination. Benefits of the Belize Travel Specialist Program include priority consideration for familiarization trips; recognition on TravelBelize.org where visitors can search for qualified Specialist agents in their area; invitations to attend exclusive events; printable diploma certifying their status as an official Belize Travel Agent Specialist; a wide range of marketing tools and resources to help promote and sell Beliz, enroll today!
UK agents enroll above
Be a Part of Our Online Community!

The Belize Travel Advisors & Friends is a private Facebook Group where Travel Advisors can interact with Belize Suppliers. Learn about the positive things happening in Belize amidst the pandemic and share personal experiences about Belize. We encourage you to be sociable and share with your other travel advisor colleagues.
In our next edition: Broadcast Partnerships