Belize City, Monday, July 24^th, 2006 -- Belize had a presence in New Jersey and New York City as representatives from the Belize Tourism Board conducted a series of educational presentations to travel agents of the Caribbean Tourism Organization's (CTO's) Garden State Chapter New Jersey on Wednesday, July 19^th, 2006 at the Holiday Inn Airport Hotel and the Greater New York Chapter on Thursday, July 20^th, 2006 at the Women's National Republican Club. 

The agents were introduced to Belize via an audio visual presentation that highlighted Belize's reef, rainforest, archaeology, and culture.  During the presentations, reservation agents had the opportunity to see captivating images and hear the vivid sounds of Belize's reef, wildlife, music and even spirit of its people.  The aim of the presentation was to excite the agents on the Belize tourism product, increase their awareness and knowledge, in an effort to effectively promote and sell Belize as a vacation destination to their clients.  At the end of the presentation, each agent was given promotional materials and brochures that will aid them to better answer questions posed by their clients.

"We continue to aggressively market Belize through presentations that demonstrate greater opportunity for exposure within our target market," comments Director of Tourism, Tracy Panton.  "We will continue to build relations with the Caribbean Tourism Organization and the travel agent community who are serious about bringing more business to Belize.  This will help to increase our awareness as a preferred tourism destination." 

A questions and answers session complimented the night's event and agents had the opportunity to take part in the BTB's Trivia Competition where Belize's main selling points were highlighted.  With the support of the Belize private sector, a vacation package was raffled at the end of the nights' presentations, further encouraging the trade to experience the Belize tourism product. 

The CTO Greater New York Chapter and the CTO Garden State Chapters have a membership of 300 and 150 respectively.  The travel agent community displayed their enthusiasm at the presentation and several mentioned their anticipated visit in September for BETEX 2006.  Representing the Belize Tourism Board were Marketing Officers Gale Malic and Melecia Banks.

For more information on the developments and events in Belize tourism industry, please contact the Marketing Department at the Belize Tourism Board at (501)-223-1913, via e-mail: info@travelbelize.org or visit us at our website www.travelbelize.org.