Client: Belize Tourism Board
Project: Music Tourism Strategy
Year: 2022-2023
Belize
Challenge:
Belize has the potential to be a country known for its iconic sound but lacked the strategic approach and foundation to get there. Sound Diplomacy was engaged by the Belize Tourism Board (BTB) to create a concise strategic plan based on maximising the value of music and music tourism in Belize around 4 core frameworks: music tourism development, music production, supporting artists and SMEs, and fostering live music and festivals across the country.
This project set out to devise ways to support BTB to meet the following objectives:
Boost economic development through intentional strategy and policy implementation, investment attraction and sustainable job creation.
Increase and diversify tourism spend through more events, more engagement and a wider, more robust offer for regional and international tourists to visit Belize all year around.
Strengthen assets by delivering the infrastructure requirements to develop Belize’s music ecosystem, specifically focusing on music production and attracting global music writers and artists to record and produce in Belize, while identifying how to reinforce traditional music in Belize.
Grow the music economy using data and evidence to support all local artists better, and expand IP development and music business as a whole.
Increase international recognition by further developing Belize into a global music destination with Punta Rock as a globally recognized music genre.
Strategy:
Working closely with the Belize Tourism Board, Sound Diplomacy delved into the research process to uncover the necessary elements to inform an effective strategy.
Mapping - Identification of tourism assets located in Belize, limited to the Belizean territory, and its land area of 22.966 square kilometres.
Economic Impact Assessment - Analysis of the direct and indirect economic impact assessment of music, across tourism and the wider economy of Belize through research of primary and secondary sources identified by Sound Diplomacy with the assistance of BTB.
Stakeholder Engagement - Roundtables - 5 stakeholder roundtables with over 25 participants from Belize’s music ecosystem.
Comparative Analysis and Studio Benchmarking - Case studies that shed light on areas of interest for the development of the local music ecosystem in Belize as well as the development of the newly created public music studios in the country.
SWOT Analysis - Key findings from all pieces of research in the form of a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) to shed light on the state of the local context of the music ecosystem.
Findings & Outcomes:
The economic impact assessment developed by Sound Diplomacy estimated that the music ecosystem in Belize creates and supports a total of 6,742 jobs (3.87% of national employment), generating a total output of $85.3 million BZD and a total Gross Value Added (GVA) of $39.7 million BZD.
Of this $85.3 million BZD, $48.1 million was generated as a direct impact from the music ecosystem, and the industry is directly responsible for 3,083 jobs.
A set of 11 recommendations to inform future plans for strengthening the local music ecosystem were provided to BTB to be considered for implementation.