BTA Release 2015 2nd Quarter Tourism Statistics
According to the BTA’s latest release of tourism data, visitor spending experienced its second consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth while leisure air travel to Bermuda is down about 1,100 year-to-date.
“Visitor spending experienced its second consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth, the Bermuda Tourism Authority [BTA] said. ”Among air visitors on vacation, the average spend per person is up 7% through June 30, 2015. When extrapolated that’s an economic impact of $74.4 million for Bermuda’s tourism economy, up 5% versus the same period a year earlier,” the BTA said.
“Increased spending is being felt across every major category of the tourism economy in the first six months of the year. The one exception is accommodation spending in the second quarter. However hoteliers remain encouraged because average daily hotel rates and revenue per available room statistics are up healthily through the first half of the year: 4.3% and 1.2% respectively.”
“Hoteliers are also hiring this year. Bermuda’s Minister of Finance indicated in his first quarter GDP report that 183 new hotel jobs have been created. The report indicated hotel gross receipts were also up.”
“It shows that targeted and well thought out marketing is bringing the type of visitor to Bermuda who is capable and willing to spend a bit more for the Bermuda experience,” said Paul Telford, a hotelier on the BTA’s Board of Directors.
“Through the efforts of the BTA’s product and experiences division, visitors are much more aware of the many activities they can spend money on. It’s having a big impact on overall spend across the island. This is an excellent basis on which to build a long term strategy.”
Bermuda Chamber of Commerce President Kristi Grayston said: “The Chamber is extremely pleased with this increase in spending, especially in the gifts and souvenirs area which has struggled for so long. We look forward to seeing Q3 statistics.”
Restaurateur and president of the Chamber of Commerce Restaurant Division Chris Garland said: “In all three of our establishments we have seen increased spending patterns as our economy begins to rebuild. It will take the continued efforts of the BTA, and all tourism stakeholders, to make sure this trend continues.”
The BTA added, “Leisure air arrivals declined 501 people in the second quarter, down 1% versus the same period a year ago. Year-to-date vacationer air arrivals are down 2%. This figure continues to be impacted by the number of available airline seats to Bermuda which is down 8.8% in the first six months of the year.”
“Leisure air travel to Bermuda from Canada is down 20% or about 1,100 travelers in the second quarter. Total leisure air travel to Bermuda [regardless of country of origin] is down about 1,100 year-to-date. With cruise and yacht arrivals factored in, total leisure visitor arrivals are down 1% through June 30.”
“Canada was especially a challenge for us in the second quarter,” said BTA CEO Bill Hanbury. “The currency in Canada is at historic lows and that’s clearly affecting the purchasing power of Canadians and how they make decisions about international travel.”
Mr. Hanbury said, “Strategically I am very pleased with our progress. Our strategy is growing the tourism economy. It’s clear our marketing team is reaching a higher spending consumer and our product team is generating the kind of on-island experiences visitors want to open their wallets for. These are very positive developments for stakeholders already in the industry and investors looking to get in.
“We are confident our stakeholders understand that these strategy improvements will make their businesses even more successful as we start to attract greater numbers of vacationers and group business travelers to Bermuda.”
More detailed information about second quarter industry performance, including business and other purposes of visit, is available on the BTA’s corporate website under the Research tab.
The full BTA Q2 2015 Tourism Industry Performance follows below [PDF here]:
The latest National Tourism Plan_2015 follows below [PDF here]:
This government is very fortunate that the people are easily fooled. I can’t believe they want their workers to take pay cuts while they pay out tens of thousands of dollars to an entity that isn’t really producing any meaningful profits. I guess it’s a boys club and the government workers aren’t apart of it.
Overall spending is up and those air arrivals that did come can afford to spend in Bermuda. Properly targeted marketing is starting to bear its fruits.
“Increased spending is being felt across every major category of the tourism economy in the first six months of the year. The one exception is accommodation spending in the second quarter. However hoteliers remain encouraged because average daily hotel rates and revenue per available room statistics are up healthily through the first half of the year: 4.3% and 1.2% respectively.”
Bermuda Chamber of Commerce President Kristi Grayston said: “The Chamber is extremely pleased with this increase in spending, especially in the gifts and souvenirs area which has struggled for so long. We look forward to seeing Q3 statistics.”
Restaurateur and president of the Chamber of Commerce Restaurant Division Chris Garland said: “In all three of our establishments we have seen increased spending patterns as our economy begins to rebuild. It will take the continued efforts of the BTA, and all tourism stakeholders, to make sure this trend continues.”
Mr Hanbiry said he has to pay taxes….Well Hanbury…Bermudians have to pay rent plus taxes.. Your housing allowance is $75000.00 a year which is about $6000.00 a month…plus $88,000 in bonuses… and you have failed to bring people to our shores…SHAWN CROCKWELL SHOULD BE A SHAME OF HIS SELF..HE GO RID OF ALL THOSE BERMUDIANS FOR THIS..WHAT A SHAME!!!! THEN HE TELL BERMUDIANS STOP COMPLAINING..WELL THIS SHOULD HAPPEN IN THE USA HANBURY…YOU WOULD BE FIRED!!!! AND YOU KNOW IT…
Not impressed by the new tourism authority and even less impress by the amount of the bonus these clowns are getting for not even functioning at a level that is not even producing nothing hire then the norm, and in a economic climate such as we have they should only be able to earn bonuses based on productivity.
It is a big joke and run by joker’s.
In stead of getting on the bandwagon with complaints, I encourage to review what BTA does and the new strategy they are deploying. One cannot make such a judgement on the success of their efforts after one year!
This is silly political season! “We had to fool you” is back again and, unfortunately, people seems to be falling for it again! How crazy?
Sometime I’m not proud to a member of a bunch of moaners that have no clue; but follow political rhetoric (which is doing more damage to our investment reputation than anything else).
We’re going downhill; and I feel very sorry for future generation if this continues. If you don’t spend money now to right-ship tourism, good luck to our children in the future! Spending additional money on non-vital parts of the Civil Service that don’t contribute to Bermuda future growth is unwise; particularly given our debt level. Spending money in areas that provide future economic growth is a must! Uninformed to think otherwise…and I put it to you that some our a political leaders as dishonest; and don’t put US Bermudians first (over their desire for political power).
BTA is contributing to a vital part of our island’s longterm recovery; cannot view this as a 1 year project.
I’m just amazed that people cannot think for themselves or see the forest through the trees!
Smiths
@hoolieh—I am amazed that you don’t realize the bonus is based on 2014 performance which includes setting up the offices and the authority itself which mr. hansbury claims its mostly bermudian so therefore some justification,.. I do not agree with his paycheque nor bonuses for him nor Ms lacey or the others, nothing seen on our island today can justify their so-called works, part of doing this job included setting it up as an authority why should a bonus accompany what the job entails, they should be ashamed and Mr. hansbury i don”t care what taxes you have to pay, you are actually not paying them, WE ARE coz you get extra for everything that no one else on this island receives, you get more than the GOVERNOR!!!are you for real and you don;t even talk to the public and cannot explain clearly what has been actually inspired by BTA versus what was already in place.., The bta is a disaster and unfortunately although i was originally for an authority; it never looked like this in my mind.. an authority should have been persons already in industry forming the group, such as hotel owners, store owners, resturants ect. forming like a taxi union and such, not some stranger who is over the hill receiving accessive amounts of money that this island can ill afford and to the detriment of the elders who have lived here, worked , and part of the infrastructure … Please Hansbury go away and take your minions with you..The public is not aware of your so called successes so it does not exist.. if we can’t see and understand your justification that it is not justified!
I wish my employer will give me a bigger bonus when business is bad
hello…
No one disagrees that tourism is gonna be a quick fix and yes tourism has been in decline for many years.That has nothing to do with the bonuses the BTA have been awarded for numbers not attained.We are continually reminded that his pay is equivalent to what he would command in the private sector.The question remains ,would he receive a bonus for the type of figures he is giving us from a Fortune 500 company?
When will the minister of finance call it ? Don’t expect Crockwell to do anything but get angry at the opposition for pointing out the underperformance of his cute and cuddly BTA . So Bob has to step in do something about this failing entity .
Do the reinsurers in Bermuda pay Bonuses when Net Premiums Written are down year on year? Do The Reinsurers in Bermuda give Bonuses when Net Income is down?? I have nothing against rewarding positive results and progress, but how can the government continue to support these bonuses, when others in the community are making sacrifices, some of which have been forced upon them? Who is responsible for agreeing to a contract where persons get rewarded for lack of productivity?
I come on here daily, and read all the rude and disrespectful comments directed at Govt workers in our island and how they are lazy, unproductive etc. but not many of these same people have a issue with paying bonuses for declining statistics.
So we are paying for the BTA and all its employees, and a minister which has had his duties and responsibilities delegated to the Tourism Authority..
I don’t even know why I bother anymore… Its a grossly unfair situation….
All I see is an obvious feed trough menu for the ‘Old Boys Club’ at the DoT… How can they do this with such appalling 2nd Quarter air arrival numbers?… and such obvious SPIN at a flimsy attempt to make an atrocious BTA performance look good.
The BTA’s primary mission was to increase air visitors to Bermuda. A mission they have NOT accomplished at all!! And the bonuses?… Unconscionable! What planet are you lot living on?!
I’m not defending their bonuses, but it would highlight several things. One, the BTA has on been in existence for a little over a year, with much of their key management staff having been onboard for less.
Two, the BTA was established to improve our tourism numbers, but those number are not exclusive to air arrivals and early on, they said how their focus wasn’t going to necessarily be on the quantity market, but on the quality market. They understand and have embraced something that most seem to ignore, we cannot compete for the quantity, it is simply not possible, our base wages have to support the higher cost of living in this island, so payroll becomes a preventative factor in being able to implement low cost accommodation. So they have focused on those that will pay out more money, and attracting them to the island. While many are focused on the air arrivals decline, they seem to either be ignorant of or deliberately neglectful to the fact that visitor spending is up. Yes, air number would be good to see increase as well, but ultimately, we want more money coming in… and that seems to be the trend. Third, that touches back to one, with the BTA still in its infancy, it is ridiculous to expect any tourism marketing strategy to take an immediate effect when it has barely been running. And I will leave this on a forth note, ultimately, the final factor in improving our visitor numbers comes down to us, the BTA can run spectacular marketing campaigns, touting all of Bermuda’s splendour, but in the end, if we as a people don’t deliver, it doesn’t matter what they do. It is us that provides the product, the BTA is just the marketing department, and in this day and age of easy access to information, especially customer reviews, it doesn’t take long for a few bad reviews to get around and undermine good marketing.
I would like to thank those at the BTA for their efforts thus far, they have been throwing so much support to local entrepreneurs who are trying to improve and provide new experiences for our visitors and I hope they are successful in improving not just the revenues sector of our tourism, but the customer volume as well.
I get your point, but what percentage of the increase in visitor spending is a result of inflation?? Do we have that information.. I am grateful for the increase in spending though, but it seems like a “clutching at straws” moment,, imho
With a 7% increase in spending despite a 5% decrease in arrivals, and inflation was only around 2% … It really didn’t play a significant variance to dismiss the fact that visitors that are coming here are spending a significant amount more than last year. This is also in the face of that we are now facing a tough knock on effect of the decreasing Canadian dollar, probably our 2nd or 3rd major market. This currency devaluation means it is even more expensive for Canadians to travel and spend here than a year ago. Hardly clutching at straws. Now if we can get visitor numbers up in the coming year and maintain their spending rate… but it still falls to us as a people in a more significant way to keep them coming back.
what part of Bermuda do you live as prices on some items have increased by more than 5%. take BUZZ for example, hot food used to be $10/lb now it’s $11.50/lb. take a walk thru the grocery stores week to week to see increases greater than 5% despite the inflation rate of the said 2%. what about TCD – car registrations – really, an increase of 2%? i hardly think so.
you are kidding yourself if you think visitors are spending more because they are buying more. the reality is that it just costs more to buy the same things.
Where do these stats come from?? How on earth with any certainty can we accept these numbers?
They where released by the BTA….. So you are suggesting that the BTA get paid for declining numbers and now unreliable stats?
I was referring to the claim that visitors are spending more. I see that they obtained this information by surveys of leaving visitors, however as the claimed increase in spending is less than 5% and with the obvious inaccuracies of surveys and polls, I cannot see how we should simply accept this as a positive. Obviously this was released by the BTA @impressive….but if you are impressed by this performance then you clearly have amazingly low standards.
LOL,, No, I am not impressed at all sir/madam. I actually thought you where trying to defend the fact that these low numbers, or the decrease in tourists is not correct, similar to how some on this board don’t agree with the results of polls when they don’t like that results.. . I hope that clarifies my position..
Ah gotcha!
Don’t forget the 4 additional $175k plus salaries we pay out also ! I would like to see that lot get those salaries in the private sector !
They would be getting more in the private sector
Bonuses when performance is bad is an embarrassment. It shouldnt happen. Disgraceful.
The bta staff SHOULD be ashamed but of course they’re not. They’re laughing all the way to the bank.
I would like to hear from an OBA supporter I am interested in how far you would go to justify such madness.Maybe we will find out who the real sheep are hmmm.
Is anyone ever going to do the math? What is the ROI for the outlay on the BTA? Rents, wages, benefits, travel expenses, budgets and bonuses just for starters. It would be interesting to calculate the cost of bringing just one visitor. Keeping in mind the numbers are declining year on year. Oh! I forgot the minister’s salary too. It is shocking. I have such confidencein the Finance Minister and his cost cutting strategies, so why is this non productive entity allowed to continue? Will there never be accountability from the BTA?
Air arrivals are still declining and we want to build a new airport
It’s amazing how quickly we can deride our own. Most of the BTA employees are Bermudians and are skilled at what they do. They face an uphill battle in that other jurisdictions have far more investment being piled into them and have better hotel stock. Atlantis in the Bahamas for example. They are marketing what we have.
The other trend is that numbers for flights are dropping but we KEEP pushing more cruise ships. This is insane. For every tourist who wants to have a ‘Bermuda’ experience there is now a cheap option which cuts Bermudians out of the deal. Accommodation, entertainment, gaming, food, beverage, retail,taxes, electricity, and import duty – none of that is paid by cruise ship passengers. They pay for taxis and tee shirts. That isn’t enough to drive our economy.
Our tourism industry is challenged by two facts – we have strong competitors, and we have service providers (cruise ships) with greater power than we have. You cannot blame Bill Hanbury and the BTA for those two stark realities.
Saw the press conference, would someone on the public relations side tell the COO, that we are not in the frame of mind, or mood, to have people talk down to us, or in any and any way right now
Marches can be organised to Church Street too, if only to help us understand a simple concept like a Bonus
BONUS = BASE PAY + ADDITIONAL MONEY ON TOP OF BASE PAY
BASE PAY + ADDITIONAL MONEY ON TOP OF BASE PAY = TOTAL COMPENSATION
We are not stupid Mrs. COO
Why is everyone ignoring this bit?
“visitor spending experienced its second consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth”
And this, from people in the business but outside of the BTA
“Bermuda Chamber of Commerce President Kristi Grayston said: “The Chamber is extremely pleased with this increase in spending, especially in the gifts and souvenirs area which has struggled for so long. We look forward to seeing Q3 statistics.”
“Restaurateur and president of the Chamber of Commerce Restaurant Division Chris Garland said: “In all three of our establishments we have seen increased spending patterns as our economy begins to rebuild. It will take the continued efforts of the BTA, and all tourism stakeholders, to make sure this trend continues.”
Wake up and stop drinking the red kool aid idiot. The economy is slowly improving in the USA so the few tourist that come here have more money to spend.
BTA keep to your plan , the seeds have been planted and soon the garden will bear fruit , the PLP fields are baron as they never worked the ground and expected to produce without any effort. BTW did the old Dept of Tourism pay any bonuses please tell
two words to describe the BTA: excuse driven.
nuff said.