To  :   Belize Telemedia Services  ICSL  BESL
Directory Department

Cc  : Minister of Tourism - Hon. Manuel Heredia
Belize Tourism Board - Director Seleni Matus    
Belize Tourism Industry Association - President Dionne Chamberlain
 
Dear Editor

The Placencia BTIA is writing to you in light of concerns raised by our membership in regards to the 2010 BTL Phone Directory.  This complaint arose when streams of calls started to pour through the door of our headquarters the Placencia Tourism Center here on the Placencia Peninsula.

The new 2010 edition had just started to be distributed it had a fabulous cover and looked set to be a great tool for all people wanting to use the directory services - residents, businesses, and of course, tourist visitors. 

Upon browsing the directory the Placencia peninsula listing was nowhere to be found.  On closer look it was discovered that the white page listings had all villages country wide placed in their respective districts and towns and cities had each had their own listings.  The exception to this was the listing for Caye Caulker and other Cayes. By this method every major tourism destination has a listing with its name on it with the exception of Placencia which had been absorbed into the Stann Creek District Listing.  Remember Placencia is the same destination that the Belize Tourism Board (BTB), the Belize Tourism Industry Association (BTIA), and the peninsula communities and tourism stakeholders have spent several years and many  hundreds of thousands of dollars marketing its presence as a not to be missed destination and apparently it was missed by the publishers at BTL.

In fact this year almost 70 small and medium size businesses, not specifically hotels, who can’t afford the luxury of large color yellow pages adverts, had been convinced by BTL Ltd directories to spend extra money having their entries emboldened or color added or logo attached so they would be easier to locate.  Placencia has been featured on so many TV programs locally, nationally and internationally, and is well known as a top choice coastal destination in Belize.

A swift phone call from the Placencia Tourism Center to BTL directories confirmed the worst. The reason given was that people in Belize don’t know which village their friends and family live they only know which of the 6 districts it is!!! We would strongly disagree; in our opinion most Belizeans know the geography of their country better than that. Furthermore de-zoning of this kind goes against simple practice of directories. It was never explained to all their clients when they spend money advertising in white pages that this was intended change for 2010. 

We have received almost 30 emails of dissatisfaction from within our membership.  Bottom line is this - Placencia peninsula needs to be identified.  
1. Please rectify immediately with an insert that will list all the Placencia peninsula entries in one place.
2. Change the online directory to reflect the same.
3. Change the format back so that well known areas like Placencia are listed in a manner that they are most familiar to everyone.
 
We anxiously await your positive response to this.

Regards,  

Wendy Lemus
Chairperson - Placencia BTIA

Elysia Dial
Placencia Tourism Center - Director

Please note at press time Belize Telemedia Ltd. had made contact with the Placencia Tourism Center and we are very encouraged. As stated in the communication Placencia will have its own listing in E-Directory and supplements of the Placencia listing will be printed and in with future distribution of the current directory. They have also ensured they will keep our concerns in mind during the production of future publications!