7 News Belize

Making Tourism Market-Smarter
posted (September 30, 2019)
Over the last few months, we've been showing you how the stakeholders in the tourism industry have been making big efforts to become technologically savvy.

The local business owners want to ensure that travelers from around the world can at least consider Belize as an attractive option for their next vacation. And so, they've been working to create an online presence, so that their enterprises can be easily found by potential customers.

But, in a world where consumers are over-exposed to digital advertisements, the Belize Tourism Industry Association wants its members to make the smartest use of their marketing strategies.

So, the BTIA collaborated with the Belize Tourism Board to host the 2nd Central American Innovation Tourism Talk. And to properly advise the forum's participants, they invited a Google marketing expert from Mexico and a tourism innovation specialist from a marketing firm in Spain.

We stopped by the forum today, and we spoke with the organizers and one of the facilitators. Here's what they told us about today's tourism innovation talk:

John Burgos - Executive Director, BTIA
"This is the second event of this magnitude that we're hosting, and the main focus is to provide the new innovative tools that are out there to do online, social media and digital marketing. As you know, that is the main platform used by travelers to identify which country, which destination, which experience they would like to seek. So, we're trying to provide this learning opportunity for our members and other stakeholders to be able to learn how best to use these tools."

"Today, we're doing 2 big areas. The first one that is currently going on right now is we have a Google representative. Her name is Miss Shamara Valdez Rubio. She's an account strategist. Basically, she lets you know how you can take advantage of Google Travel, Google Trips, Google Flights, and Google Ads. So, right now, if you were listening to her presentation at this moment, she's letting you know how you can begin to put in Google ads to your advantage."

"This afternoon, we have Juan Miguel Moreno. He's from Spain. He works for More Tourismo, which is a digital marketing firm that does digital marketing all over the world. So, he's gonna be showing you the technical ways that you can develop the best videos, the best content, and how to structure that content. And right now, what Google is doing is looking at YouTube, and how Youtube and Google ads are linked to Google. So, you have one outlet where the information can be shared. And now, we're also gonna share information about how you can create that content."

Shamara Guadaloupe Valdez Rubio - Account Strategist, Google Mexico
"I think it's really important. It's really exciting because when I asked how many people were on Google My Business for example, which is one of the products, not a lot of people raised their hands. And so, Google My Business is a free tool, for example, where you're literally putting your business online. So, if I come to Belize, and I research the best restaurants near me, if your business is online, I can connect with you automatically. And so, this is very important; it's a huge opportunity for business here."

"Some of the more complex tools, but also just as important, we went over Google Ads and the different networks that you can reach with Google Ads, and the different formats that you have in Google Ads. That's another tool. It's one of the biggest marketing tools that we have at Google, and we really hope that a lot of people here ask questions about how to get online, how to start using these tools and taking advantage."

"If I think about me coming to Belize. I think about how everything was digital. I purchased my flight on my phone. I figured out how to get to my hotel from using Google Maps. I figured out how to get here. Everything is digital, and so, we have to be present to capture all of these opportunities."

"By 2021, an interesting fact is that 82% of internet traffic will be video consumption, meaning the video is no longer an extra, or an additional part of our marketing strategy. It should be a priority in our marketing strategy."

The Tourism Innovation Talk was an all-day event, and it was held at the Radisson Hotel.

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