Minors: ‘Revitalising Gem of An Island’

Bermuda has attracted the interest of six hotel developers who are contemplating physical bricks-and-mortar investments in the island’s hospitality infrastructure, says Tourism and Business Development Minister Patrice Minors.

Minister Minors said at a press conference yesterday [Feb. 3] in the hundred days since Premier Paula Cox had come to office and she had been appointed to her portfolio, she had met with representatives of various groups which had expressed interest in operating Bermuda guest properties.

“For every challenged hotelier I have discovered there is a new potential hotel property developer wishing to do business in Bermuda,” she said. “To date we have met with at least six developers who are at varying stages of proposing to develop hotel facilities in Bermuda.

“Despite these prospects, clearly we must work with our long term partners in the hospitality industry represented by the Bermuda Hotel Association and after much internal deliberation and rationalizing costs I am pleased that very recently we have agreed a new resource that will create enhanced promotion of our existing properties. We also have held regular meetings with the Bermuda Industrial Union who represents the employees who we dub the on-the- ground ambassadors, those very same ones who gain their livelihood through this vital business.”

Minister Minors said it is through “direct, frank and sometimes uncomfortable talks” with both hospitality sector employers and employees that Government is confident a tourism turn-around can be achieved.

She also said the appointment of a new Tourism Board whose members come from diverse professional backgrounds demonstrates Government’s commitment to cast the net as widely as possible in terms of inclusiveness, talent and initiative.

“ This energetic and committed body, having my utmost confidence, is charged with establishing a sound business based model for the future of tourism in Bermuda,” she said. ”The aim: To reset and revitalise Bermuda, this gem of an island that we so proudly call our home as a premier tourist destination where it is clearly evident that we have taken all steps possible to put Bermudians back into Bermuda tourism.

Minister Minors’s full remarks follow below:

Ladies & gentlemen, what an exciting, busy and productive time it has been for me over the first one hundred days as the minister responsible for Minister for Business Development and Tourism. I am both honoured and humbled to have been given the opportunity to work with the five departments under our ministry’s remit and our aim, as I quote from the November 5, 2010 throne speech is “to help strengthen the economy, enhance our competitiveness and look for new sources of business so that our economy remains healthy and vibrant.”

Listening, learning and taking action on both the legislative, policy and sometimes operational front has consumed days, nights and sometimes wee hours of the mornings and I am thankful to those civil servants especially the department heads that helped to ensure that, I as the policy maker was meeting with those important valuable stakeholders representing our current economic pillars – international business and tourism.

Over the past 100 days, during the approximately two dozen meetings held with the drivers of international business community, ABIR, ABIC, banks, law firms, accounting firms, IDC to name a few and it became clear that while there are sometimes divergent interests there is a common goal and that is to increase business and Bermuda’s ability to compete in the global environment.

Strengthening these relationships with our private sector partners is most important and the Business Development & Regulatory Unit has been engaged in activities that seek to encourage dialogue towards the increase of competitiveness. This unit ,over the past 100 day period has been engaged in consultation to facilitate further legislative changes specifically seeking to further enhance insurance linked securities regime and to extend the tax assurance certificate from 2016 to 2035 both which should attract more business to Bermuda and in the case of the insurance linked securities further diversify the financial services offerings. The unit is also working closely with Business Bermuda in the planning an April trades mission to Asia which represents yet another opportunity to develop business and create advocacy for the Bermuda jurisdiction internationally.

We also recognized from our discussions with industry that there is a growing concern in the asset management sector regarding the reduction of Bermuda funds and we are pleased to report that a working group has now been formed to consider and recommend to the ministry what collaborative actions can be taken to attract new and profitable business to Bermuda.

Bermuda’s best practices in business is one of the keys to the attractiveness of new business and during these last few months, under the leadership of the Registrar General and the Intellectual Property section a trademark legislation review committee has been established for the purposes of updating legislation in this increasingly important area. A new frontier is being created in the E-Commerce sector, on Monday, November 15th, I was thrilled to participate in the launch of e-Monday, a one day online shopping event held to support and encourage e-commerce and highlight the importance that technology plays in enabling greater markets for entrepreneurs. A public consultation was launched at the end of November on revisions to the Electronic Transactions Act 1999.

The responses are presently being collated and published on a portal while an analysis is undertaken and proposed recommendations developed. Our young people are not being left out of the new business frontiers and the Department of E-Commerce, in collaboration with the it sector under the banner of the technology leadership forum held the largest ever it student networking event since its inception on December 20th and I was honoured to present the opening remarks at the event where students networked with potential employers and were given scholarship information regarding further studies in the field.

I repeat, excitement has filled the last one hundred days and there is plenty of that happening in the tourism sector where daily when it may seem all is lost there are opportunities birthed out of crisis. At the Bermuda department of tourism, we have been listening and more importantly taking the time to engage industry stakeholders and establish relationships, not only to achieve an understanding of the dire straits that some of our tourism partners find themselves but also for us to challenge each other on how our passions can be refueled and in more cases than not sustained during the increased global tourism industry competitiveness, notwithstanding the period of changing and difficult worldwide economic challenges.

For every challenged hotelier I have discovered there is a new potential hotel property developer wishing to do business in Bermuda. To date we have met with at least six developers who are at varying stages of proposing to develop hotel facilities in Bermuda. Despite these prospects, clearly we must work with our long term partners in the hospitality industry represented by the Bermuda Hotel Association and after much internal deliberation and rationalizing costs I am pleased that very recently we have agreed a new resource that will create enhanced promotion of our existing properties. We also have held regular meetings with the Bermuda Industrial Union who represents the employees who we dub the on-the- ground ambassadors, those very same ones who gain their livelihood through this vital business. It is through this direct, frank and sometimes uncomfortable talks with both employer and employee representatives, that we are confident that we can we realize a turn around.

In December the Department of Tourism organized through the Bermuda Hospitality Institute the first ever dedicated hospitality career fair. Over 130 high school students participated in panel discussions learning all aspects of hospitality and tourism. The Bermuda Hospitality Institute is also to be commended for launching its new programme that promises 20 summer students employment. Ladies and gentlemen, let me just add that you are also now in the newly branded “Feel the Love Month”. During February there have been specifically designed activities showcasing product offerings in Bermuda for our prospective visitors and locals alike.

As I stated before, the answer to strengthening our economy and more specifically tourism lies within each and every one of in and outside of this room. Thus the establishment of the new look Tourism Board under the chairmanship of Malcolm Butterfield and the diverse and broad representation is the beginning of creating and empowering a representative body of business and trade leaders to do more than just meet and advise inconsequentially. This energetic and committed body, having my utmost confidence, is charged with establishing a sound business based model for the future of tourism in Bermuda. The aim: To reset and revitalize Bermuda, this gem of an island that we so proudly call our home as a premier tourist destination where it is clearly evident that we have taken all steps possible to put Bermudians back into Bermuda tourism.

In closing, in one hundred days, we have met crises head on and in spite of it all, we will continue to collaboratively seize the opportunity to enable and might I add realize success for Bermuda and its people.

Thank you.

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