Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association Annual General Meeting

BHA Marketing Director Tessie Duran Tonaco was in Miami Florida, June 20-21, attending the CHTA Annual General Meeting. The AGM was preceded by several committee meetings and informative sessions that discussed environmental, health, and advocacy issues that are presently affecting the tourism industry throughout the Caribbean region. This year focused on Crime, Sargassum, Shared Economy/ Airbnb, Booking.com fee increases and more.

These meetings are attended by Hotel Association Executives from over 30 Caribbean countries including Belize. CHTA advocates on our behalf with the OTA’s (Booking.com), Cruiselines, Caricom, CTO, etc.  Belize has a seat on this Board represented by the Belize Hotel Association.

Following this meeting, the Caribbean Society of Hotel Association Executives convened for their Bi-annual Meeting, where issues directly affecting the associations, memberships, and other matters were discussed. Fundraising efforts for each association were examined as well as training seminars that were required for the AE’s.

Caribbean Hospitality Industry Exchange Forum

CHIEF is the premier educational forum for Caribbean hospitality and tourism professionals, hoteliers, innovative vendors, government officials and industry experts and creates new possibilities for a stronger, more sustainable and more profitable industry. CHIEF sessions took place from June 21-23 this year.

The forum consists of two full days of educational panels and sessions covering a multitude of relevant hospitality and tourism topics. This year’s topics included Cannabis Tourism, Cryptocurrency, Culinary innovation using local ingredients, Cruise Tourism, embracing ethnic and Gender Diversity in the Workplace and in Tourism, Human Resource Management

Chef Sean Kuylen was invited to deliver a CHIEF Talk on using local ingredients to create culinary masterpieces. His presentation was very well received and he put Belize in the limelight as one of the very few countries that used innovative ways to prepare local dishes as a tourism product.

THE CHIEF AWARDS shine a spotlight on the Caribbean Hospitality and Tourism Industry’s tried and true best practices, and the Caribbean businesses that masterfully implement them for the betterment of the industry and the region. Last year our BHA member Hamanasi Resort won first place award for Environmental Sustainability. Nominations are open to all our BHA members.

Taste of the Caribbean

Belize once again participated in the Taste of the Caribbean from June 21-25, which is an Annual regional Culinary and Bartending competition hosted by the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association. This intense grueling competition is dubbed the Culinary Olympics of the Caribbean

Caribbean Teams are selected, prepared and sponsored by their local Associations. We thank the Belize Tourism Board who took on this initiative and helped us put Belize in the spotlight with this amazing team of culinary geniuses!

A part of this exciting event is the Caribbean 305, which is a festival where each Caribbean country showcases its culinary talents. One competition at this event was the Pig Roast competition where Belize won the Grand Prize for our famous Cochinita Pibil!

The days following include Master Chef, Pastry Chef, Junior Chef, Team Competition, Seafood Competition, and Bartending Competitions where Belize competed against 13 other Caribbean islands. At the end of the week, Belize brought home One Grand Prize, 1 Silver medal, 9 Bronze medals, and 2 honorary mentions

The Belize Hotel Association congratulates Team Belize on doing an exceptional job representing our country!