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56 September 2016 - Business View Caribbean
Business View Caribbean - September 2016 57
providers of guided fishing tours, trips to the Blue Hole,
the Reef... everyone offering services to tourists.”
Officially, “the BTIA is an umbrella organization for the
tourism industry’s private sector with a mandate to ad-
vocate on behalf of its members for the benefit of the
tourism industry by influencing the outcomes of public
policy and resource allocation decisions by the govern-
ment, specifically for tourism.” Today, the Association
has representation on almost every government, legis-
lative, advisory, consultative, and licensing committee.
As a direct result of BTIA’s advocacy efforts, tourism is
front and center on the list of government priorities.
Member perks
BTIA membership numbers have climbed to 600, cov-
ering six categories – three each for Personal and Busi-
ness members. Burgos notes, “Membership is open
to any stakeholder in the tourism industry. Hotel and
resort owners, tour operators, tour guides - we even
have chocolate companies and artisans that develop
souvenirs. Also, any student studying tourism can be-
come a member.”
Benefits well exceed the annual membership fee. They
include generous discounts on training, voting at the
AGM, and marketing opportunities such as website
listings and reduced advertising rates. In addition,
member-to-member discounts from tourism-related
companies throughout Belize are especially attractive.
The value of advocacy on behalf of members is price-
less. According to Burgos, “We advocate directly for
our members on issues that the government sees as
important to promoting tourism. Anything that is going
to contradict us in any way, we stand up side-by-side
with the government to decide the best way forward.”
One such issue is the sustainable development of lo-
cal infrastructure; something the tourism sector touts
as crucial to future growth.
The Association is led by a membership-elected Board
of Directors that represents all ten BTIA chapters, one
from each district, country-wide. Board members elect
their own President, who sits for two years. The Secre-
tariat, under Executive Director Burgos, has a perma-
nent staff of three (Event & Marketing Manager, Mem-
bership Officer, and Accountant).
Do you have an app for that?
Tourism is currently the country’s number one sector
in terms of revenue generation and employment. Over-