Ministry: “16th Consecutive Month Of Growth”

June 1, 2017

“A strong performance in the hotel sector is very good news for hoteliers, hotel workers and good for attracting future hotel investment to the island,” Minister of Tourism, Transport and Municipalities Michael Fahy said.

“Tourism continued its upward trend, with the latest figures from the Bermuda Tourism Authority showing April year-over-year growth in leisure air arrivals climbed by 17 percent,” the Ministry said.

“April was the 16th consecutive month of growth for Bermuda’s tourism sector. And year-to-date, leisure air arrivals are up 18 percent through April 30th, 2017 – a near 32 percent increase for the four-month period when compared to two years ago.

“The growth in leisure air arrivals for April came from all three countries that serve Bermuda with direct air service – the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The largest year-over-year percentage increase came from Canadian visitors with a 23 percent increase. The United States and United Kingdom both saw double digit percentage increases in April, as well.

BTA graph Bermuda June 2017

“Visitors from the U.K remain slightly off the year-to-date pace – down 7 percent when compared to a year ago.

“The hotel sector continued to show solid improvement, growing occupancy levels by nine percentage points from 57 percent last April to 66 percent this April. At the same time, due largely to stronger vacationer demand, hoteliers were able to charge more for their rooms on average than they did a year ago.”

Minister Fahy welcomed the news, saying: “A strong performance in the hotel sector is very good news for hoteliers, hotel workers and good for attracting future hotel investment to the island.

“This is making a positive impact on the lives of thousands of people working on the front lines of hospitality today.

“At the same time, consistent growth in visitor arrivals and spending helps us bring capital into Bermuda to further grow our tourism product. As more hotel rooms come online, more jobs are created across the island. We’re on pace to add 1,500 hotel rooms over the next ten years.”

The full arrivals report for April 2017 follow below [PDF here]:

click here banner Bermuda tourism

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Comments (12)

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  1. Average Bermudian says:

    fey ???

    ?

    pathway to …… ????

  2. Onion Juice says:

    Ya still gonna get voted oit.

    • Comfortably numb says:

      And if the OBA is voted out we will return to Globalhue, Faith Based Tourism, (no show) Black Mayors’ Conferences and the wooing of Chinese Tourists. How will you like that Onion Juice?

    • sandgrownan says:

      Just shows that the average man in the street will vote against his own self interest to “stick it to the man”. It’s stupid and short sighted. See Trump. See Brexit.

      Those that campaign for a return to fiscal incompetence and religious conservatism should be ashamed of themselves.

    • Enough says:

      You really have Bermuda’s best interests at heart don’t you?

    • the real Terry says:

      O J Do not book the caterers or close off C street yet. Remember what happened last time. By the way have those caterers from 2012 bee paid yet? LOL

  3. Francis says:

    So many cynics. Numbers on the up and the haters cry

    • sandgrownan says:

      It doesn’t fit the narrative…

  4. James Rego says:

    Really bad news for the PLP.

  5. Breathe says:

    Good thing the OBA took the politics out of tourism or else you’d have a Minister of the government making this announcement and taking credit for the independent BTA’s marketing strategy and work. Oh, wait……Careful Mr. Dallas, letting Fahy steal your thunder is bad form. He’ll be nowhere to be found WHEN the AC bubble bursts and you have to explain the inevitable drop…..

  6. LongBay Trading Inc. says:

    OBA ALL THE WAY!!!!!
    well done for all the hard work. Bermuda is looking good!
    You only have to open your eyes and look around you.

  7. Bermudian says:

    Fantastic news all around! BDA is buzzing and not just from the AC (despite what some might think). Keep it up OBA!