BTA’s ‘Tourism Forward’: Group Travel & Jobs
[Part of the Bermuda Tourism Authority's 'Tourism Forward' series]
Better performance in group travel is having a positive effect on jobs in the hotel sector. In January and February of this year, the Fairmont Southampton, Bermuda’s largest hotel, avoided layoffs because it had a solid foundation of group travellers on the books.
“When we have group right in the wintertime it means people aren’t laid off,” Fairmont’s Regional Director of Sales & Marketing Shelley Meszoly.
The Bermuda Tourism Authority re-organised its sales team in late 2014 and that move is contributing to positive results in social, sport and business-related group travel for 2016. In 2015 alone, the BTA’s group sales team booked 59 meetings for Bermuda, representing $10.6 million in estimated spending on-island.
It’s also typical for hotels with an emphasis on group travel to have their own team of sales people working on group travel.
“Group travel is critical to the profitability of hotels and tourism sector employment levels so having positive signs in this area is very important,” said Bill Hanbury, Bermuda Tourism Authority CEO. “We are cautiously optimistic because we’re climbing out of a big hole on the group travel side of the business and we have a long way to go.”
As of July 2015, 164 new jobs were created in the hotel sector over the previous 12 months, according to government statistics. The latest BTA Hotel Pace Report shows group travel up 10% over the next twelve months when measured against the same report one year ago.
Watch the Tourism Forward video series online at the BTA’s Vimeo channel. Tourism Forward also airs on cable on Channel 82.
$1000,00 a day and an $80,000 Bogus Bonus.
F!@#ing Pathetic !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What’s pathetic is you have to be on the island too see it on tv. Forget vimeo almsot no one watches that. Each Tourism Forward video must cost $$$$$ and they only reach a very limited audience. This video idea should have gone no further than episode one.