Belize Attends New York Times Trade Show

Belize had the honor pleasure of participating at the "5^th Annual New York Times Trade Show" which was held at the Jacobs J. Javits Convention Center in downtown Manhattan from February 6^th - 8^th, 2009.

The floor of the Jacob Javits Convention Center was transformed into a sea of adventure travel. The show heated - up the travel market as it attracted more than 7,000 trade professionals and 28,000 attendees, visiting the booths of over 500 exhibitors. Hosted by American Express, it provided an experience where anyone passionate about travel, was able to explore premier destinations, properties, products, and services from around the world.

On the first day of the show, a Travel Trade Day was hosted which included four conferences for travel industry professionals featuring industry experts presenting on the industry's latest trends and issues. The trade day included conferences for travel executives, representatives of tourism boards, travel writers and travel agents. A luncheon was organized for the attendees and an exclusive industry reception concluded the evening.

With arrangement by the Belize Tourism Board's public relations agency - BVK, whilst in New York, BTB had the opportunity to secure an interview with the editor of Travel Agent Magazine, Joe Pike. During the interview the Belize Tourism Board discussed topics related to the joint efforts by the Government and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in support of the Sustainable Tourism Plan scheduled to take place throughout various parts of the country, as well as Belize's recently enacted Sport Fishing Legislation.

Representing the Belize Tourism Board were Melecia Banks, marketing officer and Gale Ozaeta, hotel inspector.