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Osmany Salas, President - BTIA
"Today this BETEX 2017 is our 12th Belize tourism expo. The whole purpose of this event is to bring its international agents together with Belizean tourism suppliers' service providers. So this BETEX we have over 30 international travel agents hailing from the US, Mexico, Central America, UK, France and a couple other countries. They are here to meet with over 40 tourism service providers, hoteliers and tour operators from all over Belize. Every area of Belize is being represented here today. The international travel agents who we call buyers will be meeting the service providers who we call suppliers during today and tomorrow. The whole idea is for them to set up networks and establish business partnerships to bring more visitors to Belize for overnight stays. The whole purpose is to market Belize and increase our tourism arrivals."

Alex Courtenay, 7News
"What was the process in deciding which tour operators, which hotels and resorts came to represent Belize and came to have this marketing opportunity."

Osmany Salas, President - BTIA
"In some ways it was first come first serve basis and we knew what space we had to work with here at the SCA auditorium and we advertised, we reached out to a membership through our ten destination chapters all over the country. We advertised BETEX and people applied online, emailed us, called us, and as so they applied and registered. It was open and available not only to BTIA members but also to nonmembers. BTIA members got a discounted rate and most of the participants are BTIA members. As I said we've got a couple non BTIA members so it was open and every service provider had an equal opportunity to apply to register and be a part of BETEX."

The travel agencies that attended were chosen based on their commitment to marketing Belize to their customer base.