<strong>The</strong> <strong>Placencia</strong> <strong>Breeze</strong> <strong>May</strong> <strong>2010</strong> - Page 26
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Placencia</strong> <strong>Breeze</strong> <strong>May</strong> <strong>2010</strong> - Page 27BTIA CELEBRATES ITS 25TH ANNIVERSARYCELEBRATING DIVERSITY... 25 YEARS OF ADVOCATING FORRESPONSIBLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENTBTIA celebrated its 25thbirthday on April 26th with apress conference, tourismseminar and cocktail. <strong>The</strong>press conference in itswelcome address took a lookback at BTIA all those yearsago and recognized itsfounding members and initialtourism contributors to theformation of the organization.Ms. Jeanie Shaw, daughter ofBTIAs first president andmatriarch of tourism for BelizeJean Shaw delivered areflection on her mother'scontribution to tourism, BTIA and the development of Belize. Avideo clipping of the 2nd BTIA Annual General MeetingPresident's address was aired for those present. <strong>The</strong> first BoardMembers and District Chapter Representatives were presented viathe same historic video clipping.<strong>The</strong> day event was followed by a cocktail at the ITVET Courtyard.At the cocktail, BTIA was presented with a cheque of $20,000sponsorship from the Belize Bank Ltd. BTIA expressed itsgratitude and that the funds donated will go a long way infurthering the work of the organization. Guest of honor andspeaker at the Anniversary Cocktail was newly appointed BTBDirector Seleni Matus.BTIA recognizes key sponsors like NICH and ICA for the culturalcomponent of the cocktail, donors like Atlantic Bank, PremiumsWines and Spirits, Belize Telemedia Ltd, Radisson Fort George,Travelers Liquors, Belize Brewing Company Ltd, Idealabs Studies,BRC Printing, Genesis Arts.ROTARY CLUB OF PLACENCIA NEWS<strong>The</strong> Rotary Club of <strong>Placencia</strong> is winding down RotaryYear 2009-<strong>2010</strong> with planning for several events anddeveloping plans for the next Rotary Year, which willbegin in July with Harald Wallen handing over thePresidency to Lydia Villanueva.BTIA as well presented its new website www.btia.org,Membership Orientation Interactive CD and Board OrientationInteractive CD. <strong>The</strong> day's seminar was delivered by Crist Inmanand surveyed the issue of "Developing Core Values for Belize'sTourism Industry".While the seminar had to be abbreviated due to flight changes forthe guest speaker, the presentation gave insight into the value andpurpose of formulating core values for an industry. Inmaninformed that the competition and pull to develop like otherdestinations in North America with high rises and high densitylarge scale projects, Belize needed to resist that pull and suchresistance could only be grounded in the determination of corevalues.Inman emphasized that as Belize pursues its Tourism MasterPlan, the determination of core values should form the initial stepsof that process so that comprehensive tourism planning rests of astrong foundation.President for BTIA delivered her thank you with a highlyreflective and logical presentation looking at BTIA now andtourism 25 years after with sound recommendations for movingforward. She informed that "We are 25 years old now, the time forpartying is over and we must get serious and take ourselvesseriously." She informed that as we recover from the mostchallenging international and national economic times, we need tobe prudent in planning, savvy in investment and ground ourindustry in sustainability, responsibility and desire to providequality high value service and present high value employment forBelizeans.FIRESIDEAs has been described in previous articles, the Rotary Club of<strong>Placencia</strong> gathers several times each year, usually at a member’shome, for a social gathering, known to <strong>Placencia</strong> Rotarians as aFireside. <strong>The</strong> latest was held in March at the Decked Out House inHarbor Place South with Linda Burrow hosting. <strong>The</strong> weather wasbeautiful and, as always, the food was abundant and most<strong>Placencia</strong> Rotarians (few of our members miss these gatherings),along with guests and spouses, enjoyed the afternoon. <strong>The</strong>highlight of the afternoon was the induction of our hostess, LindaBurrow, into the Rotary Club of <strong>Placencia</strong>. <strong>The</strong> inductionceremony, conducted by Club President Harald Wallen, is always amoving experience for all of us and more than a few misty eyescould be seen as Linda’s sponsor, Jim Weller, placed the Rotary pinon Linda. Linda has already been involved in several of our Club’sprojects and proved to be a tremendous help. We welcome Lindaand look forward to working with her to accomplish even more inthe future.BINGO<strong>The</strong> Rotary Club of <strong>Placencia</strong> held another Bingo night at theParadise Resort on April 24. In all, 15 games were played andseveral hundred dollars were raised that will go towards the costsof the Senior Luncheon on <strong>May</strong> 16. We wish to, once again, extendour thanks to Alan and Janet of the Paradise Resort for providingthe venue. <strong>The</strong> next game is scheduled for <strong>May</strong> 23 and a scheduleis being developed for future games, so, please listen to LOVEFM,watch the public access channel on cable TV and watch for flyers(posted at Wallen’s Market and the bulletin board at the soccerfield, as well as other locations) for moreinformation and dates for future games. Continued on pg 31