Belize Tourism Board Set to Launch Elevate Training Academy for Tourism Sector Enhancement

The Belize Tourism Board (BTB) is preparing to launch a new training school to help bolster the quality of the country’s tourism product. The institution will be called the Elevate Training Academy and will offer training in various fields within the tourism sector including tour guiding and culinary arts. The BTB says that the academy will offer trainings that will come with internationally respected certifications. Lloyd Enriquez, Director of Cruise and Capacity Development at the BTB says that the academy will streamline the various trainings that the BTB hosts throughout the year.

Lloyd Enriquez, Director of Cruise Capacity Development, BTB: “Last year 2023 we trained the BTB trained over 1500 persons. Over 1500 persons were trained in various fields. Fields such as customer service, mixology, hotel tax preparation, hotel financing, hotel asset management, a whole wide array of different fields. We build capacity within the industry. Over 500 tour guides are included in that figure. So we engage actively each year. There’s a capacity development department within the Belize Tourism Board. We are working as we speak to put in place what we will call the Elevate Training Academy, which we will channel all our trainings, all our capacity development efforts through this academy. So, that is the focus for this year. It will be internationally recognized and accredited trainings that the trainees who undergo trainings via this vehicle that we’re setting up will be able to show the certification and pretty much participate in the tourism industry anywhere in the world. Hopefully, we will build the capacity here and we will stay here. We will start with frontline training and supervisor training within, let’s say, the accommodation sector and the food and beverage sector. We will also set up what we call a complete culinary program, complete with a teaching kitchen, a fully equipped professional teaching kitchen. So these are the things on the horizon for us. So all the trainings that we’ve done over the years, we continue to do but we will consolidate it under the Elevate Training Academy.”

Enriquez noted that he could not provide a timeline for the official launch, but that works are already in progress.