American Way, it’s the in flight magazine for American Airlines
and the June issue has a cover story on Belize. It’s a major plug for
the sagging tourism industry as tens of thousands of travelers on American flights
throughout the world will see the magazine. And it doesn’t hurt that the
picture on the cover is of the PM’s wife. That seemed to make it reason
for double the celebration today as the Tourism Board pulled out all the stops.
Jacqueline Godwin found out more.
Jacqueline Godwin Reporting,
For the first time visitors to Belize and abroad onboard any American Airlines
flight will be able to read about Belize and hopefully make it their next destination
that is because the airline in flight magazine American Way for the first time
in its forty five year history has featured Belize on its cover.
Adam Pitluk, Editor –American Way
“When you think about Belize, at least when I think of Belize, I automatically
think scuba diving or so I thought. Scuba diving and Belize are synonyms basically
and people know to come down here for that. What I wanted to do was illustrate
that there is much more going on in Belize than just what’s under the
sea, that inland, up in the jungles, the ruins, the mountains, this is where
it is at. This is a great place and I wanted people to know they can come down
here and dive of course and that it will always be known for that but that there
is much more going on.”
Shakira Oxley-Tsai, Dir. Marketing – BTB
“And this will actually have greater exposure for us. We are looking
at some eight million eyeballs that will have an opportunity to see Belize up
close and personal and through the eyes of the travel editor and so we are excited
about this opportunity.”
Adam Pitluk,
“We do 24 covers a year. There are 24 issues of American Way, we come
out every two weeks and twelve of those covers are relegated to celebrities,
the other are relegated to destinations. So in any given month, you’re
having 3.5 million set of eyeballs reading this magazine. It is very important
to the general public and to the world at large because when you have people
in an airplane, a fixed audience, a controlled audience reading about a place,
some of these people aren’t flying to a tropical destination, they are
going to a business meeting in Omaha. So when they look at Belize and they see
it on the cover, they realize this is something worth checking out. So I would
say it is very important and it is consequential in the sense that there are
3.5 million people on the planes that see it and another umpteen million on
the worldwide web.”
And one Belizean lady who will gain worldwide recognition is the woman featured 
on the magazine cover. She may look like a model but she is actually the First
Lady Kim Simplis Barrow who spent one day in Placencia on the beach being photographed
for the special edition.
Kim Simplis-Barrow, Featured on cover of American Way
“It was a huge responsibility for me because I know that American
Way Magazine is a marketing tool and therefore I knew that it would be a huge
responsibility to Belize because I would be interviewed and I would have to
be as articulate as I possibly can to portray Belize in the best possible way
I could so it was a huge responsibility.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
Tell me about the experience of that photo shoot. How many takes did they have
to do?
Kim Simplis-Barrow,
“A lot. There were like different takes in different parts of the
country. This was in Placencia and we were just like experimenting and so forth
but the photographer is so great. He is fantastic so it was an experience. I
have t say it was an experience.”
Belize is just one of the more than two hundred destinations American
Airlines service so we are not sure when Belize will be featured again but at
least in this June edition of American Way giant leaps have been made in increasing
tourist arrivals to the country. Jacqueline Godwin reporting for 7News.
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