The new Director of Tourism Seleni Matus was officially introduced
to the media today. She takes over from Tracy Panton who held that post for
ten years. Here’s what the Minister had to say about her as she unveiled
a plan for game change.
Hon. Manuel Heredia Jr., Minister of Tourism
“We are confident that the sustainable knowledge and experience that
Ms. Matus brings to the table in sustainable tourism, facilitation of complex
multiple stakeholder initiatives and community outreach coupled with Mr. Garbutt’s
long involvement and leadership in the tourism industry will together help us
to look beyond business as usual and to chart a clear path.”
Seleni Matus, Director of Tourism
“One of the key priorities is this concept of result oriented planning.
We need to very quickly, within the next two to three months clearly define
an action plan that will articulate what the key activities and the recalibrated
tactics are that will take us to the next level and position Belize as a leader
in destination stewardship and really help us to refresh the marketing and branding
activities that we have going.
This will start by developing what I keep referring to as the game changing
action plan with the input of stakeholders. It will be a short term plan with
a very clear focus. We will be ruthless at keeping on track. We have for very
long tried to be everything for everyone and that has not worked and so we definitely
need to revisit what we do and how we do and ensure that we are really investing
in those activities that have the highest return for our industry.”
Lindsey Garbutt, Chairman – BTB
“I am very comfortable that with this board united as we are that
we will move tourism forward in the way that the new Director just explained.
We are committed to taking a new approach to how we move forward our tourism
agenda, an approach that will be grounded stronger ties with the entire tourism
stakeholders throughout the country.”
And while the new Chairman is with the game change, Matus also spoke
specifically about the Tourism Board changing its focus to internet marketing
and focusing on the high end market.
Seleni Matus,
“From a marketing standpoint we know importantly from the marketing
intelligence we have that travelers, there are very clear shifts in how they
are selecting destinations and how they plan their travel. Most of this target
audience is very focused on using the internet as an integral part of their
daily life so it is really to shift our advertising to be more in line with
what these individuals are doing on a daily basis to put Belize in front of
them in their daily lives. So it is really moving, shifting from print media
to focus more on social networking, also doing more online advertising, and
so that is a drastic shift in how marketing is done for Belize.”
Jules Vasquez,
“Is there any way of making Belize a not so expensive destination? If
you look at those we are competing with, I would say just in this region, Belize
is a lot more expensive.”
Seleni Matus,
“It is and that has been a recurring issue and concern from many camps.
However we have seen that if we are very smart in really zooming in on segments
of the market that really have the disposable income to have this rich experience
that you find here in Belize that we still are able to increase heads in beds
and plan for that sustainable growth.”
The game change plan will be ready in three to four months and Matus
will report to the media in another 12 months.
Email
Print