David Dodwell On Tourism Authority Transition
“Many long hours have been invested in creating the Bermuda Tourism Authority but the investment of time and effort really only now begins,” Chairman Designate of the Bermuda Tourism Authority David Dodwell said today.
Last month the Bill to allow the formation of the Tourism Authority passed in the House of Assembly, and on Monday [Oct 7], Senators also passed the Bill, paving the path for the Authority to come to fruition.
The implementation of a Tourism Authority was a campaign promise made by the One Bermuda Alliance in the 2012 General Election, and veteran hotelier David Dodwell was named as the Chairman back in January. The OBA administration has stated that the concept behind the new Authority is to “move tourism out of the political realm.”
Speaking today, Mr Dodwell said: “The Bermuda Tourism Authority team all appreciate the work that has gone into passing the Authority Bill through both Houses of Parliament. We now await assent by H.E. the Governor and the Minister posting the date the Authority goes live in the official Gazette.
“The Executive Strategy Committee [ESC] and the Project Management Office [PMO] have been working tirelessly to bring the various elements of the new Authority together. It is obviously going to take us some time to finalize our organization chart and define the new positions and then to go through the interview procedures for all of the positions and get people on board.
“As we work through this process, the team at the BDOT will continue to undertake their normal work and any enquiries you may have in regards to Tourism should be addressed, as normal, to the Department of Tourism. The team there will be able to steer enquires through to the Authority as we evolve.
“We are aware that there may be those who have received sponsorship of events and/or activities from the Department of Tourism in the past. While the process for consideration will be changing in the future, any and all applications should, at this stage, be made in the normal manner.
“We will, in the very near future, be making further releases. We remain committed to being as open and as forthright as we can be. Clearly there has to be change, we have been clear on that already and we will be explaining that change in the coming weeks.
“All of us are now part of Bermuda’s tourism team. Everyone needs to represent Bermuda as best they can as they interact in any way with our visitors.
“Many long hours have been invested in creating the Bermuda Tourism Authority but the investment of time and effort really only now begins. We have a long road ahead of us, some might say a steep hill to climb, but we are determined to make that climb. We are focused on bringing tourism back, on bringing new jobs for Bermudians, new revenues for Bermuda and new opportunity for all. We need now to join together to be part of the solution.”
Good luck bringing tourism back. Sorry, but I don’t see it happening.
well arent u just a bucket of roses this afternoon!!
more like a bucket of doo doo
Don’t worry , he isn’t the only one without a bucket of roses .
There’s no one on this island under 45 years old who has a grasp of how much Bermuda has changed for the worse in terms of over development and its negative impact on the tourism product .
It all happened slowly and in their lifetime to cause them to believe that Bermuda was always the way it is now and all we have to do is advertise a little more in the right markets , offer gambling or nightlife and try to give 5 star service and the tourists will flock back.
It aint gonna happen. The things that made us special have all succumbed to ‘progress’.
(And there’s better beaches in other places too , btw)
No more Global Hue please!
Excellent,
Now down to business, sorting out our air lift.
Get Canada back on track, with daily service to Toronto again and weekly to Halifax. Might be a good time to talk to Nova Scotia as they have a new government in place this week.
Could not agree with you more I fly out to Halifax several times a year and I really miss the direct Halifax flights. With the number of students we have out there you would think that could reinstate it, even if it’s only certain times of the year.
I think you might be putting the cart before the horse.
Improve product first, THEN the flights will happen.
More flights first doesn’t make sense.
Please put Tourism authority contact info on line so citizens may contact them with input and thoughts.
I’m sure, when it’s formed, all that information will be readily available.
I really do not understand how this Authority will be different from the Dept. Of Tourism.
I also do not understand how this new structure will ‘save’ tourism. How does replacing one government department with another ‘semi’ government department stimulate visitor interest in Bermuda?
What will the Authority do differently from the Dept of Tourism?
spend our money better…lmfao
Nothing will change this is a 5 year plan. When they fail and they will fail they will all say David Dodwell was a waste. Someone has to take the fault when the next election comes around why not someone from the private sector. Until the hotel rates come down to $150 to $200 all inclusive it will fail.
Or, instead of lowering our prices to try to attract people that can’t afford us, how about raising the quality of our product to attract people who can?
It’s a concept that worked for decades. Our troubles started when we STOPPED following the concept.
Mike Hinds,
That is not true, that has been the concept, and still is the concept.
The truth of the matter is when you soley market to the 1% of the world, you limit the chances of picking up the other 98% of the world’s travelers. I am sure there are some middle income families who would love to come here if our prices were brought down.
How hard is it to get my name right? Seriously.
I don’t understand your post, though…
I say “Raise quality to attract people that can afford us” and point out that it’s not being done (hence the need to raise quality) any more and you respond with “It’s still the concept” (which… huh? I can’t parse how that makes sense.)… and not only that, you go on to prove my point by promoting the opposite (i.e. the first part of my first sentence) by saying we need to lower our prices to attract people that can’t afford us.
Here’s the thing. When we DID have a quality product and focused on the folks that could afford us, we got not only those folks, but also those middle income families who saved up to come visit us. Why? Because we were worth it.
I’m not saying that we market to the 1%ers. That your spin on what I’m saying. (BTW, what happened to the OTHER one percent? 1% + 98% = 99%… there’s 1% missing)
What I AM saying is that, we’ve been focusing on getting as many people here as possible, from wherever we can get them and, because of this, we’ve been attracting people that can’t afford us, so we’ve had to lower our standards, which has led us into the Catch 22 we’ve found ourselves in.
We’re expensive. That’s a fact of life. We’re a tiny island in the middle of the ocean. Things are expensive here. There’s no denying this.
Why are we even THINKING about focusing on folks that can’t afford us? We WANT people that can afford us (meaning “They’ll spend money here”) to come here. Don’t we?
The members of “the other 98%” that want to come to Bermuda? They’ll do what they did in the past. Save up and make it a special visit. A luxury.
That’s what we are. And the sooner we get that through our heads, the better off we’ll be.
Why don’t we wait until, you know, it’s actually a thing?
I’m sure it’s gonna take more than a couple of days to set up.
So which comes first – the salvation of The Reefs or Bermuda Tourism?
And please explain how the National Tourism plan formulated by the previous Government and now being used by the present one is going to revive tourism? It does not even consider what the visitor wants but regurgitates what the ‘local experts’ have decided our visitors want.
Good luck with that plan!
If the BTA leads to the salvation of tourism, then the salvation of The Reefs will be at hand as well. If tourism fails, so does The Reefs. It is great to see a tourism professional in charge of tourism instead of the well and not so well meaning but universally inept amateur Ministers who have taken it off a cliff in the last couple of decades.
@ Comment is Free,
You are wrong about that one mate. Tourism has been on the decline for years, however the Reef’s has been recognized numerous time for being one of the best hotels in the Carribean (even though we aren’t down in the carribean lol). Also another factor is that they have alot of repeat customers who go to the reefs yearly. Check their numbers, the Reef’s has been doing pretty good.
It already is “a thing”.
BDOT and TA.
Shhh shh shh…
People who know what words mean are talking.
Go back to the bottle, Rummy.
It is a real cause for celebration just to get tourism out of politics.
To all you negative deadbeats. Why don’t you learn to offer a solution when you complain about a problem? Anyone can spot a problem…..
This is a great move for Bermuda tourism. Take it out of the hands of the politicians. Successive ministers have flip flopped with strategy as they all have their own ideas. I should know. I worked for bermuda tourism. Put it in the hands of the stakeholders who have a financial vested interest in making our tourism successful. And finally there will be consistency with bermuda’s message, and most importantly it’s brand identity. People don’t know what bermuda stands for anymore.
@ Hogfish & Don’t be so negative,
If you people really think this will be out of politics, then you are wet behind the ears.
For all who people do not know, Politics will never be out of Tourism, because Tourism will always be under the control of the present Government. Fact!!!
Bermuda
Your tourism dollars and clients are gone forever.
You lost all of us.
For me a BDA traveler of 40++++ visits
my ideas and efforts to support tourism were
continually ignored.
And then to add insult a top tourism executive
dismissed me in person with a serious dressing
down for my inquires.
FORGET it Bermuda is not worth the time or effort
or spending.
I don’t think you really want the business.
” Bermuda
Your tourism dollars and clients are gone forever.”
Great thing it is that this island of 65,000 has you to speak for the world. Last I checked your country shut down basically all government services at the very start of recovering from an economic crisis in a game of who will take their thumb out of their bum first, but it’s wicked awesome the US has no problems of it’s own. Now I’m off to grill myself a late dinner, I wont use too much olive oil so your government doesn’t declare war on my BBQ for some extra spending money.
I think thats a very unfair and wrong response to give – I am someone in the tourism industry and in my humble opinion its that sort of attitude that has resulted in the reduction of our numbers. The person in question had a very valid “gripe” about how his/her areas for improvement were dismissed – a repeat visitor has valuable information and ought to be listened to and not dismissed by any of us
I agree with you and it’s not a usual response I would give a visitor but they already dismissed us, all of us, because of the actions/inaction of one/few. Every country on this planet has its own issues, I just highlighted that, and Bermuda is now in the process of identifying and rectifying the many issues across our little island including tourism. That person must have money to be so concerned with our issues rather than their own, like the fact their government doesn’t have the money to get the mail delivered yet just approved funding to bomb Syria. I want the US to stop occupying countries and trying to force their version of democracy on their people, why won’t they listen to me? Probably because if they don’t maintain control of the oil the world gets to sit back and watch the systematic collapse of the US dollar and their economy. Kinda makes our issues seems small. Bermuda’s main problem is that we’ve been content to ride the coat tails and adopt the policies of the so called super powers of the world rather than separating ourselves by doing things different and unique which is what we are by nature.
Exactly the attitude that results in less and less visitors coming to our shores every year.
Our problem is such dismissive attitudes towards tourists who have had a bad experience.
What does the actions of the US Government have to do with our potential visitors. Most Government’s around the world are corrupt and unethical. Should we tell their repsective citizens to staw away also?
Clearly the US has problems, and that is why I use to get away and play in Bermuda.
And as a tourism executive who has traveled on business to many islands Bermuda was one of my favorites. The advantages that drew so many in the past have clearly dwindled down as the air travel arrivals show year over year.
I hope to visit Bermuda again in a decade or so again
to see how you all have done with your efforts.
Let’s hope that something can be done with the the cashiers office at the airport when visitors need to pay duty.. If several of my family and friends (some elderly) have had bad experiences whist trying to pay duty on goods they’re bringing in, then I suspect lots more have too. There’s no need for nastiness or rudeness and it gives a terrible first impression.
Tourism needs a turnaround but is the TA the end salvation? All I see is Dodwell, a staunch Political Figure running the show !!
Exactly.
PLP hired him to head up their Tourism Board and no one complained…
@ Double Standard,
I agree with you, and I don’t have a problem with him heading up the Authority now.
My question is to the people who think this Authority will save Tourism is:
WHAT WILL MR. DODWELL DO DIFFERENT THAT HE HASN’T DONE ALL THIS TIME? OR SHOULD HAVE DONE ALL THIS TIME!