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The Bermuda archipelago seems to offer the perfect vacation environment. The territory is just over 650 miles from the U.S. eastern coast, a flight of less than two hours. Bermuda’s humid subtropical climate creates an ideal environment to appreciate its series of beautiful bays, beaches and harbors. The country features numerous historic sites tied to U.S. and European colonial history.
Nevertheless, Bermuda is in a fight for its tourism future. The British Overseas Territory is grappling with an aging and stagnant hotel inventory, transportation and service issues, and a perception that the country’s tourism offerings are outdated and no longer competitive with other warm-weather destinations.
Some of the issues were on full display this past week, as cruise passengers disembarking ships Bermuda’s Royal Naval Dockyard cruise ship pierencountered long lines and significant delays following the less-than-smooth debut of a new shuttle service.
Launched in July, the mini-bus shuttles are intended as an alternative to public buses whose routes include Horseshoe Bay beach. Instead, confusion regarding the service’s price and availability led many visitors to opt for public buses, creating long lines and delays. Bermuda has struggled with transportation issues as buses and ferries are often heavily utilized by tourists, leading to delays and complaints from residents and tourists alike.
Recent tourist arrival data presents a mixed picture. Bermuda welcomed 50,219 land-based visitors and 25,433 cruise ship arrivals between January and April, according to 2014 Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) statistics. The totals represent a 4.5 percent increase in land arrivals and a 0.7 percent decrease in cruise visitors. Overall in 2013, Bermuda hosted 236,343 land-based visitors, a 1.8 percent increase over 2012. Cruise passengers for the year totaled 320,090 arrivals, a steep 15 percent decline from 378,260 visitors in 2012.
However those mixed-bag numbers only partially obscure the steep decline in arrivals from Bermuda’s apex in the 1980s, when the territory annually welcomed more than 500,000 land-based visitors. Today Bermuda ranks 20thamong the 27 countries tracked by CTO in terms of overnight visitors, and 18thin terms of cruise ship visitors.
Since taking took office in December 2012 following a government re-shuffling that included the election of Craig Cannonier as Bermuda’s new premier, Shawn Crockwell, Bermuda’s minister of tourism development and transport, has attempted a variety of measures to reverse Bermuda’s declining tourism fortunes.
“The new government is aware that the true test is its success in facilitating the industry’s rejuvenation by fulfilling its platform promises, which were designed so that tourism can achieve the revival the country can be proud of,” Crockwell said upon taking office.
He has since launched the Bermuda Tourism Authority (BTA), which replaced the government-run department of tourism as Bermuda’s primary tourism marketing and promotion organization. In January, BTA named Bill Hanbury, a veteran destination marketing professional, as executive director.
Crockwell also moved quickly to encourage the development of new resort-based casinos. Casino gaming had long been banned in Bermuda, but inDecember 2013 Crockwell announced the government would proceed with “the establishment of legalized casino gaming through the parliamentary process,” foregoing an earlier-promised public referendum.
Bermuda’s lack of casinos put it at a disadvantage versus other warm-weather vacation destinations, said Crockwell. He cited polls that said 76 percent of Bermuda residents supported casino gaming.
“Casino gaming is not a panacea but a much needed amenity for our tourism product,” he said. “We must augment our tourism offerings and we must enhance our tourism infrastructure.”
Crockwell has also sought to revitalize Bermuda’s aging hotel base, which has not added a major new property in more than a decade. In fact, last September Rosewood Tucker’s Point became the third Bermuda resort to be placed in bankruptcy in the last three years, following Newstead Belmont Hills in 2011 and Pink Beach Club in 2010.
Under Crockwell, the government recently announced an “exclusive negotiation” with hotel developer Desarrollos Hotelco Group to build a resort in historic St. George’s. The development would be constructed on the site of a former Club Med and feature a 238-room hotel, an 18-hole golf course, a spa and fitness center, swimming pools and a casino. Desarrollos was identified through a request for proposals launched by Crockwell’s office.
The announcement follows the recent re-opening of Bermuda’s 106 year-old Elbow Beach Resort, which had been operated since 2000 by Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group. The 98-room resort is now operating under the management of the Burns Group, a New York based company.
Yet despite the recent positive strides, Bermuda’s tourism future is far from assured. Cannonier resigned in June amidst a political scandal, whose events ironically included an airplane flight he shared with Crockwell and Bermuda’s then-attorney general. The scandal has been nicknamed “JetGate” by local media. The flight appears to have been at most a sideshow to a larger story of improper campaign contributions, and Crockwell has not been implicated in any wrongdoing.
However with his party’s former leader now no longer a part of Bermuda’s government, it will be interesting see to what extent the changes Crockwell has sought to implement will continue.
In the meantime, Bermuda remains at the mercy of an extremely competitive global leisure tourism market. One month after BTA officials launched a tourism action plan to establish Bermuda as a “world-class golf destination,” the PGA of America announced October’s Bermuda PGA Grand Slam of Golf tournament would be the final one hosted by Bermuda following an eight-year run.
Hanbury sought to place a positive spin on the departure. “All good things eventually come to an end,” he said. “Bermuda is well prepared to pursue other world-class golf activities.”
Learn more about Bermuda tourism by following this John Jefferis Twitter account.
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