My old aunties just complained about “boys” breaking into homes…crime… One cousin said it would be just a few years before murders started happening…and sadly, she was right.

I returned home, started reading The Royal Gazette more regularly, and saw all the crime, and thought, “Why pay all that money to risk a hotel room invasion?”

Now I’ll return for funerals, sadly, that’s it…we bought a beach home in the states, and though it’s not as lovely as Bermuda, it’s safe. No crime. (And to put this in perspective, I live in Washington, D.C. We don’t have purse snatchings routinely in Georgetown in broad daylight — you seem to have more crime than DC, given your population!)

Why haven’t the Bermudians demanded the police exert curfews, confiscations, drug rehab…the island is so small…I can’t believe you have not all risen up to demand better services from the police?

And of course, so much of this starts with social issues that sadly, Bermuda, such a polarized society now, never effectively addressed.

I feel very, very sad about the state of affairs in Bermuda. And don’t kid yourselves…a casino will only make your social ills worse.

Please tell me there are people working to improve things in Bermuda. I’d love to take my kids there someday.

The few things that actually do get accomplised are done after huge delays or massive cost overuns.

Another reason that PLP & the word inept are often found in the same sentence.

As we all know, we can trust these PLP Ministers. They wouldn’t ever tell us a complete lie. Because that would mean they are untrustworthy and we know that can’t be true. So, Minister Furbert, we can all look forward to the Park Hyatt opening soon, as promised by the PLP. Right?

The Cancuun crowd is not coming to Bermuda. Too stuffy & too expensive. The kids of the mega wealthy are not coming either. They like to party just as hard as anyone else. Stop them for a little bit of personal weed & you will never ever see them again.

And the saga continues.

Keep your racist nonsense to yourself and go educate yourself to compete with expats to find work – not just a degree, but skills and manners and attitude.

That didn’t work out too well….

On the flip side of the coin, there’s only a limited number of “high worth” individuals who will choose Bermuda as their destination of choice when they have other similar places in the world to spend their money.

One of the main draws here in the winter is that when it isn’t blowing a gale, you can still golf. Otherwise, there isn’t much more than the “quaintness” and “Britishness” of the island to draw people.

The kind tourists that care about old English “quaintness” or a (boat) parade aren’t looking to spend $500+ a night on accommodation.

Simply put we are too expensive a destination and a large degree of this we can’t help. $15k for a week a Tuckers Point? Seriously?

There is (or can be) a very small niche market of repeat customers provided we can give them what they want. BTW how long is a piece of string?

What they want is privacy, exclusivity and impeccable service.

We can do this but the market is very small and won’t give us the economic boost we are all hoping for.

Frank

Last year there was a Royal Wedding, that people the world over, including in the US, were excited about. Bermuda did nothing to try to attract tourists based off that.

Next year is the Queen’s 60th anniversary. It’s potentially a big deal; you could put together special commemorative events to take advtantage of it.

But no, we spend out time arguing about whether to have a casino so we can be more like Atlantic City.

There are however so,me cooler month events which could be promoted as a reason to visit.

Since 1998 Bermuda has had a Christmas Boat Parade. At consistently 50 plus boats, it is quite a large one as far a boat parades go.

Have the DOT or few remaining hotels ever done a promotion featuring the parade? Not once. Not ever. Opportunity lost. A great event, that is free, for visitors to litteraly rub shoulders with the locals.