Belize Tourism Board’s Director of Tourism, Seleni Matus, sent out a release to Belize tourism partners yesterday indicating that Belize made it to the number one spot on Google searches, a feat that the she attributes to the recent marketing efforts of the BTB and Belize’s appearance on the Gene Simmons Family Jewels Realty TV Show (GSFJ).
“As most of you may already know, the Gene Simmons Family Jewels Reality TV Show (GSFJ) recorded their sixth season finale – one of their biggest moments ever – right here on the shorelines of our Caribbean Jewel,” commented BTB’s Director of Tourism Seleni Matus. “Truly a proud moment for all of us, I cannot express how much this accomplishment means to me and everyone here at the Belize Tourism Board. Nevertheless, I find it most imperative to take this time to personally thank each and every one of you: every tour operator, hotelier, restaurateur, taxi driver, airline, and every other individual and company, who helped in one – way or another to make this venture a resounding success.”
On Tuesday, July 26, 2011, over three million viewers of A&E’s top reality television series, watched as Mother Nature’s Best Kept Secret proved it is the world-class destination we know it to be. As with all marketing initiatives, the BTB quickly began to assess the overall Return On Investment (ROI) from our appearance on the show; the results outweighed the initial estimates of the BTB.
In Seleni Matus’ release she point outs that, according to Google trends, during and immediately after the show, Belize was actually ranked number one: the most “Googled” word on the Internet! Trending on similar grounds, and within 24 hours of the show’s airing, the BTB Facebook page grew in popularity as it went from just over 7,000 “Likes” to almost 12,000 – a number that continues to grow. At the last tally, the page was sporting 12, 687 “Likes,” putting the BTB only about 1,300 away from its goal of 14,000 “Likes.”
Gene’s proposal to Shannon left millions of fans on the edge of their seats because the show ended as a cliffhanger. Teary-eyed and emotionally overwhelmed, Shannon standing speechless at the totally unexpected proposal, at least unexpected for her, the fated answer is now reserved for the show’s upcoming season, which is scheduled to begin in September 2011. And guess what, it opens right where they left off: here in Belize.
“Here are a few other facts that you may not have known about the show. GSFJ carries an estimated advertisement value of US$9,000 to US$15,000for every thirty second spot. When we take into account the fact that Belize was featured for at least 30 minutes on the show, we see that from just that one episode, Belize gained somewhere between US$540,000 to US$900,000 worth of destination brand advertising,” indicated Seleni Matus.
The long-awaited marriage proposal ranked GSFJ as A&E’s most watched telecast of all time among key adult demographics, with 1.7 million viewers for ages 18-49 and 1.9million viewers for ages 25-54, as well as the most-watched telecast in GSFJ’s history.
“This is yet another milestone in the BTB marketing efforts and with your continued support, the BTB is confident that we will continue to see our country’s position grow around the world as a popular travel destination in the Caribbean and Central America,” concluded Seleni Matus.
The BTB is scheduled to release its Second Quarter Report on tourism arrivals and is excited to announce that the second quarter of 2011 showed a 6.3% increase in overnight arrivals compared to the second quarter of last year.
