May Breeze 2012 Part 1 - The Placencia Breeze

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PBTIA Promotes Placencia as Summer Destination to Belizeans at Trade Show By Apolo Caliz PBTIA Front Desk and Membership Officer, frontdesk@placencia.com It has been a really rewarding experience to work for the Placencia Chapter of the Belize Tourism Industry Association (PBTIA). I was recently assigned to represent our Chapter at the Belize Agriculture and Trade Show (BATS) in Belmopan. My mission was to showcase Placencia as a premier tourism destination in the summer for Belizeans. Thanks to some of our PBTIA members, I was able to take promotional materials with me to the grounds and inform the Belizean public that an affordable Belizean vacation is possible and easily within their reach. Upon arriving to Belmopan on Friday, I quickly noticed how dedicated the BTIA National team was to their work. They had just gotten through with the Belize Tourism Expo (BETEX) in Belize City and dived right into the weekend at BATS. On Friday, we prepared our booth for the crowds and stocked up the storage room with everything that we had taken with us to give away. At the show grounds itself, I decided to take a little walk and see who all were participating at this year’s BATS. I also saw livestock including a very intimidating nine-year-old bull, horses, pigs, chicken “both fried and live.” That night, our team stayed in very comfortable rooms at Rumors Hotel on the outskirts of San Ignacio. On Saturday, we arrived at the grounds at 9 a.m., and the crowds were already lining up at the SMART and Belize Telemedia booths. I was excited and knew that much work was in store for the BTIA. It was amazing to find out how many Belizeans believe that it is too expensive to vacation in their own country. I was happy to show them that on the Placencia Peninsula, there are accommodation, dining and tour options for different budget levels and that our natural attractions would allow anyone to have an amazing vacation, not to mention our upcoming Lobsterfest in June. In addition to executing my assigned mission to “big up” the Placencia Peninsula to Belizeans, I also worked along with the BTIA team (BTIA National Executive Director Efren Perez, Membership Officer Talia Tillett, Intern Andrew Usher, Volunteer Mr. Sutherland) to promote BTIA’s Belize Staycation raffle and sell tickets. On Sunday, another volunteer, Karina Cunil joined us to help with the raffle promotion, proceeds of which benefit our entire organization across Belize. Belizeans from all different sectors of society visited our booth. I met teachers, various industry professionals and many others who were intrigued about the prospect of being a tourist in their own country and sharing that information with their respective networks. They were also thrilled to learn about BTIA’s raffle which offers grand all-inclusive, two-week tours in different hot tourist spots throughout Belize including Placencia during the summer months. Needless to say, BATS is an excellent option to showcase your business, and I am happy to report that it was certainly worth our PBTIA members’ efforts The Placencia Breeze – May 2012- Page 6 Welcome A Letter From the Editor: A man called our office at the Placencia Tourism Center expressing his disappointment that we had published a sentence above our calendar of events in Creole: “Sih weh di goaan.” He said he was a tourist and only knew English and Spanish and that we should have translated that sentence into English. We graciously gave him the translation over the phone, but defended our decision to omit a translation. In this issue of the Breeze, that phrase is in Garifuna, and there’s no translation. If you don’t know what it means, here’s what I want you to do: Make your way to Vern’s Kitchen in Seine Bight Village and while taking the opportunity to enjoy a delicious meal, find someone who speaks Garifuna and ask that person to translate for you. We like to encourage visitors to our Peninsula to immerse themselves in the local scene and what better way to make that connection with our culture than to start a conversation about language?▪ Jolie Pollard, director@placencia.com to drop off their promotional brochures and cards at the Placencia Tourism Center before I set off for my trip. Thank you. I truly hope that next year, we have many more items to take to Belmopan. I encourage all our members: small to large hotels, restaurants, gift shops, real estate agents, everyone – to recognize the value of marketing at BATs. The BTIA is working hard to promote Belize to Belizeans during the ‘slow season’ and we hope that you organize to have your services available to them during the upcoming summer months. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at the Placencia Tourism Center. ▪
The Placencia Breeze – May 2012- Page 7 Sierra Brothers Take Top Honors in T-Shirt Competition By Jolie Pollard PBTIA Executive Director, director@placencia.com This year the Placencia BTIA took the plunge into the social network scene and held its annual Lobsterfest t-shirt design competition on Facebook requesting that voters “like” their favorite image. Like soon turned to love as Grayson and Omar Sierra’s design quickly took the lead and received 181 likes by the time voting wrapped up at noon on May 7. This is the first time 23-year-old Omar and 20-year-old Grayson have joined forces to work on Lobsterfest art. The Placencia brothers have competed against each other in our previous competitions with Grayson victorious in 2009. Why work together this year? Turns out Grayson and Omar had the same vision. “I told Omar about this idea I’ve had for two years, and he said he had the same idea, so that’s why we decided to come together and do this one piece. We think alike,” explained Grayson. Previously, the Placencia BTIA had submissions on hand at our annual Sidewalk Arts Festival where festival goers would select their favorite piece by paper votes. The Sierras said that this year gave them more time to plan their art work. “As artists, we were always busy preparing pieces for the Artfest, so we never had the time to put in the detail we wanted.” And those details captured fans on our Placencia Lobsterfest Facebook page. The painting shows a typical Lobsterfest scene with crowds packed under the Belikin tent dancing to live music while lobster is sizzling on the beach grill. But just at the bottom of the realistic scene is a hint of surrealism. Crawling towards the big party is an adult Caribbean spiny lobster and two juniors tagging behind. “This is depicting that the fest is not just for adults, but for kids as well. It’s a family event!” explained Grayson. “We are also trying to tell people that the Placencia Lobsterfest could not be Lobsterfest without lobsters joining us,” he added. While the concept had been brewing for over two years, Grayson and Omar said they took about three hours to complete the painting in one session. “We are happy to continue to bring original hand-painted art to Lobsterfest, and I must say we shall return. I already have an idea for next year,” said Grayson. Please see Lobsterfest 2012 T-shirt Design on page eleven. The Sierra brothers hold the official Placencia Lobsterfest 2012 design. JOLIE POLLARD
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May Breeze 2012 Part 1 - The Placencia Breeze

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