The San Pedro Town Council (SPTC) held its first ever Think Tank Mixer on Tuesday, August 18th at the Rum & Bean located at Mahogany Bay Village. The event was designed for invited guest to mingle and discuss issues that are affecting the island and suggest possible solutions. Kicking off at 5:30PM in a formal ambiance with complimentary snacks and drinks, the function motivated the attendees to discuss the island’s future plans.
Deputy Mayor, Gary Greif briefly welcomed everyone officially opening the event. “This idea of getting together in a network with everyone has prove to be successful in other places, thus, we want to start this practice here in San Pedro. By having frequent gatherings like this one, we can discover the skills of our residents. For example if we need a graphic designer we feel that we have to go out of the island or the country to find one, when that professional we are looking for can be right here in San Pedro,” Greif explained. He continued by emphasizing the aim of this initiative, which is to get together in small groups from time to time and discuss issues affecting the island and the tourism sector. “Everyone wants us to have a sustainable growth of tourism on the island which will benefit the people and likewise the tourist as well. during this event I will like to talk to everyone and get your contact information and in the next week or two weeks we will be contacting you for private meetings to discuss any ideas that came out from this event,” said Greif.
Some of the topics discussed were the Sargassum invasion, San Pedro Tourism Board, impacts on social media, regularization and proper training in the service industry among other concerns. The regularization and proper training in the service industry was a leading topic. Many of the attendees acknowledged that customer service personnel from restaurants and hotels should take courses in customer service and hospitality. It was indicated that the level of performance up to now is satisfactory, nevertheless, it can and it should be better in order to compete with our regional partners.
After the gathering, Greif thanked everyone for their presence and announced the possibility of future events. This was the first event of its kind, and it is expected that in the future there will be a larger attendance. It is the hope of the SPTC for this event to eventually form a tradition where everyone works together with the goal to make Ambergris Caye the pioneer of innovations in business and tourism sector.
Greif on behalf of the San Pedro Town Council would like to thank the Rum & Bean at the Mahogany Bay Village for hosting the event and everyone who kindly attended the event and put their input towards this promising campaign.
 held its first ever Think Tank Mixer on Tuesday, August 18th at the Rum & Bean located at Mahogany Bay Village.){kind=link}