Belize Hotel Association Hosts Second Annual Allied Trade Show, Showcasing Top Tourism Suppliers

The Belize Hotel Association (BHA) held its second annual Allied Trade Show at the Caribbean Motors Showroom this morning.  The event allowed allied members to be able to network with key players in the hospitality and tourism industry, exploring new avenues to do business. 38 booths were represented and featured a diverse range of products and services from some of the top suppliers in the tourism industry. Love News spoke with Membership and Services Coordinator, Keisha Reyes, on the importance of collaboration among their allied members.

Keisha Reyes, Membership and Services Coordinator, BHA: “Today we are having our allied trade show and the main purpose for this allied trade show is to have our members network with themselves as well as others from the general public. The partnership is very valuable to our members. The more that we are able to put them in front of the public or other hotels because that’s one of their main focus or main reason why they joined the association, the more we could get them out there and get them more recognition that’s one of their utmost goals. We have two different types of membership. We have our allied that are divided into several different ones. We have allied association, our regular allied members, and we have our allied international which we have one of them here today. And then we have our hotels. So our hotels, we currently have 61 hotels under our membership and we have 55 allied members. For our members, I want them to be able to get their goods and services out there. Even though some of them, you know, there are some big names they still have services that are not well known to the public. So that’s one of the utmost goals for our allies today.”

The Tradeshow is directly linked to the tourism and service industry in Belize. The allied members all provide services and products to the industry. Love News got to speak to the Inventory Manager and Data and Marketing Manager of Duty and Tax Free, Briana Jex and David Yescas about the impact events like this have on tourism and promoting their products.

Briana Jex, Inventory Manager, Duty and Tax Free: “There has been a significant increase. I can say that for sure in comparison to our years with COVID. There has been a significant increase and the increase in flights as well. Right now is the slowest season so things are a bit slower than usual but we know at the beginning of November things are going to pick up. So it’s been a steady increase. I can say that much. It’s been a steady increase.”

David Yescas, Data and Marketing Manager: “So what we have done is in response to the increase in tourism, what we have done right now is trying to simplify some of the purchasing processes at the airport. So we have the Buy Before You Fly campaign, which is where we have a QR code. The goal is to eventually have an online store, but for now it’s a QR code scan where you can reserve your orders. And if you have a short flight or you just don’t want to deal with all the movement at the airport you order it, pick it up, you either enter the country and you’re on your way, or you exit the country and you’re on your way with your goods.”

The Association has recently increased membership to 55 Allied Members and 61 Hotels