Swan: Lack Of Visitor Accommodation
United Bermuda Party MP Kim Swan has said that in an effort to boost tourism we should encourage “Bermudian Executive homeowners to consider converting their apartments to licenced tourist accommodations.”
The lack of visitor accommodation is one of the challenges to the tourism industry which was recently identified by the Tourism Board in their recent report which states, ”Visitor Accommodation – We have seen a dramatic decline in large hotel and cottage colony type accommodations over the last five years, which accounts for most jobs that have been lost in the sector. It also accounts for lost beds and in turn lost opportunity to market to air visitors.”
The chart below is extracted from the Tourism Board’s report:
Mr Swan stated, “Whilst we wait for the Park Hyatt, the George Hotel and Marina, Morgan’s Point and the other hotel projects which are years away and lay pending in the public domain, we need additional quality accommodation options for potential visitors now.”
“Bermuda once had numerous self contained Guest Houses many with pools strategically located throughout the island during the glory days of tourism. Many of these privately owned licenced Guest Houses opted out of the tourism industry when the boom years of international business provided lucrative long-term leases.”
“Today the rental market is saturated with accommodations and there are far less persons able to afford executive homes due to the exodus of foreign workers in international business.”
“Today the people of Bermuda are forced to readjust to the economic and social circumstances before us.”
“One option is to encourage Bermudian Executive homeowners to consider converting their apartments to licenced tourist accommodations. This would reverse the trend of unavailable beds and enhance tourism’s marketing efforts.”
“The reality is that conversion to tourism accommodations would signal a return to the industry by Bermuda’s people and also provide jobs at the same time.”
“It would also motivate locals to promote Bermuda overseas for potential clients and encourage our people to become hands on in the industry once again.”
“With an 8 month off-season Bermuda has room for growth but needs licensed beds to market if we are to turn around our fortunes. This is an opportunity immediately waiting.”
“There is a market for licenced holiday accommodations and it would be a huge benefit to the industry to have locals return to the Guest House business.
“This would make it possible for visitors to engage our main resource, our Bermudian people, and also help generate much needed foreign currency in the process.”
Kim Swan, where have you been. Bermuda used to have a thriving vacation home rental market with a few real estate agencys having departments dedicated to servicing them.
Their disappearance is another story in the PLPs highly successful management of Bermudas tourism industry.
Vacation homes are available all around the world. A few Bermuda homes can still be found here. http://www.vrbo.com/
I am not sure that my friend Kim is aware that The Ministry of Business & Development currently have many homes on their Website that Tourist can rent. Go to http://www.gotobermuda.com/where-to-stay/accommodations-explorer/exploreaccommodation/Category/Cottages/
I used to rent out two of my units to Tourist on http://www.vrbo.com. I also used to work along with http://www.bermudarentals.com/?gclid=CNSvj56lia0CFacQNAodgnaBkw who rents out many Bermuda units.
However inspite of what we are doing I agree we should be able to improve and encourge moore people to rent their homes to Tourist, providing they meet a minimum standard.
@ Wayne, Yes I am aware that there are homes on offer. And let me salute them !!
But we can use more because, according to the report, we need more beds.
I am sure that you will recall that there were an abundance Guest House options
during the hey day of tourism (particularly in the 70′s and 80′s).
Also, many persons did convert their licensed tourism premises to regularly dwelling units to capitalise on the growth in International Business and the the exodus of several small properties to condos. This took place over the past 25 years ………
Wayne, Last time that I checked it is your Tourism Board’s report that said the following:
”Visitor Accommodation – We have seen a dramatic decline in large hotel and cottage colony type accommodations over the last five years, which accounts for most jobs that have been lost in the sector. It also accounts for lost beds and in turn lost opportunity to market to air visitors.”
My comments are solution driven (find a way to increase beds) which would help encourage more beds which will help the Department of Tourism market Bermuda and hopefully result in an increase in air arrival visitors.
That is what the Tourism Board has recommended as a problem.
Respectfully,
Kim Swan MP
St. George’s West #2
The math here is not that difficult people. The problem is not a lack of beds, as long as hotels are closing or downsizing due to a lack of business. The problem is not lack of beds, the problem is the shortage of tourists to put in the beds that are already available. As long as hotels are going broke all over the island, we do not have an accommodations shortage.
@ VK
This article dealt with only one aspect of the report “Visitor Accommodation”. The 8 month off season, from September to April is indeed another problem that needs to be addressed, it is mentioned in the report and I also touched on it in this article.
Re: “the problem is the shortage of tourists to put in the beds that are already available”
I feel if the Government move swiftly on a Tourism Authority, our Industry Professionals are motivated and eager to put a dent in the shortage of tourist that exist.
Kim
Thanks for the links (Triangle Drifter & Wayne). Hopefully, we will raise awareness of an opportunity in the tourism trade for homeowners and encourage more back into the industry. If so, Bermuda benefits from their efforts to personally market each respective property.
Respectfully,
Kim
I am sorry, Did Kim Swan really say this or am i reading it wrong…because we cant fill all the hotel rooms we have now. We might have less hotels than before but we also cant fill the rooms we have now.
can we just look at the table from the tourism board, its clearly fake. Are we really expected to believe that number of beds dropped by the EXACT same amount in every category during the year? i highly doubt that that’s true. it looks like the got some P1 student on excel. Tourism Board was clearly a waste of money if the produced such baloney
the blind leading the blind…..There are executive homes becoming empty all the time as I just found out about one yesterday with an Exec of one company putting his on the market and it is currently empty……guess he did not want to pay the $120,000…
Tourism? What Tourism…..BDA product is overpriced and under-delivers so who in their right mind will pay $300/night for a hotel let alone a holiday cottage? For the price of a ‘low cost’ BDA vacation, I can rent the executive suite at Atlantis Bahamas!
Notwithstanding the alleged lack of accommodation… The primary issue facing Bermuda is how to market it to potential visitors where the majority of our potential visitors live. An integrated, professional MARKETING & ADVERTISING PLAN that targets our PRIMARY TARGET MARKET who live in the GATEWAY CITIES OF THE ATLANTIC NORTHEAST is what is desperately needed right now!! Stop wasting valuable advertising dollars on Secondary Markets like Canada and Great Britain! They only represent about 10% of our visitors!
Can’t you lot get that through your thick, know-it-all skulls!? 90% of our business comes from the Atlantic Notheast… That’s where we need to spend our advertising budget, where our customers live.
It also scares me that the DoT is attempting to revive College Weeks, because they have not convinced me that the DoT actually know what they are doing. The sooner we establish some sort of “Tourism Authority” the better (although I dislike the word, ‘authority,’ cuz the PLP are way into unnecessary authority!)!
Bermuda Tourism was started by private industry – Trade Development Board. Following 1968 constitutional changes it became more and more bureaucratic as time went on. Because we were at the top of the Tourism food chain internationally, it was hard for us to see it but our emerging competitors came here studied us and set up Tourism Authorities around the globe.
To Mr. Dodwell’s credit he pinpointed it in 98′ but it was not in time and the concept got caught up and swept away with the election hype of 98′and PLP’s 100 day rescue mission – that is history now.
But a Tourism Authority for Bermuda was and remains the best business/industry model for Bermuda. David Dodwell (98′), Renee Webb (06′), Bermuda First Report (09′) and now the government’s Tourism Board (11′) after great research and millions of dollars in advice all reach the same conclusion – A Tourism Authority in needed in Bermuda !!! Make it Happen Minister Wayne Furbert !!
@ “Are You Serz”, You are correct to point out that we are not filling the beds we have now, save and except, for the contracted 4 month high season. But that is another problem, separate from the need for an increase in beds.
More guest houses would translate to greater interest from our end and equate to getting more of our people to formally promote our island to potential air visitors. In addition, you hardly see visible signs in Bermuda of Guest Houses as before, and if we did, it would demonstrate to tourist on cruise ships,to Bermudians and others that we are keen to have them visit by AIR, stay and return. If we were to see more Bermuda homeowners enter as guest house owners, in my opinion it would be a positive development for Bermuda on many levels.