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The Belize Tourism Industry Association (BTIA) conducted its annual general meeting and elections of new offices for the Placencia tourism destination. The meeting commenced with the outgoing President Beverly Cabral giving thanks for the opportunity to have served in the leadership role and to have had the support of the entire membership and destination. She expressed confidence that any new board would continue to provide strong leadership and urged members to remain alert and proactive. In relation to the recent discussions for cruise tourism, she urged remain vigilant, get the information and ensure their positions are registered.
The general meeting resulted in the election of the BTIA Board as follows:
Chairman -Wendy Lemus - Wendy's Restaurant, 1st Vice Chairman - David Vernon - The North Beach & Toadal Adventures, Secretary Hannah Cowell - Platinum Designs, Treasurer - Gillian Zabaneh - Sunova Beach Gift Shop, Councilor - Patricia Ramirez - Splash Dive Shop, Councilor - Jeanie Gabourel - Jag Auto Rental, Councilor Steven Christensen - Caribbean Cabinets & Furniture, Immediate Past Chairman - Beverly Cabral - Whipray Caye Lodge.
The Executive Director for the Placencia BTIA office reported on several achievements over the past year. These included:
* Reception of the award for Best Receptive Service from the BTB Awards 2009
* Successful Lobsterfest 2009
* Successful Mistletoe Ball 2009
* Road Clean up and maintenance activities with heavy support from private sector members
* Continued marketing for Placencia via the website and Placencia Breeze newspaper
Placencia BTIA will as well be responsible for the implementation of this year's Placencia Sidewalk Arts & Craft Festival.
The group as well considered the heavily discussed cruise tourism for Placencia and agreed that consultation and information is key. An invitation will be directed to the Ministry of Tourism and the Belize Tourism Board asking for a consultative meeting in order to receive information on the proposal being investigated. Spurred on by this discussion, Placencia BTIA is as well preparing to determine activities to derive a tourism development plan for the destination, so as to feed into the larger national tourism master planning exercise that the government will be embarking.
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