Video: BTA Partner With US Open Tennis
[Updated] The Bermuda Tourism Authority [BTA] and the Government are holding a press conference this afternoon [April 30] to announce a new tourism marketing partnership. We will have additional coverage later on and in the meantime the live video is below.
Update: The live broadcast has concluded and the 9-minute replay is below
Update 2.13pm: The Bermuda Tourism Authority, the official destination marketing organization for the island, and the United States Tennis Association [USTA], announced that Bermuda will be the exclusive tourism partner of the US Open Tennis Championships at a press event in Bermuda today.
“The partnership kicks off with the 2019 US Open this summer in New York City, which is Bermuda’s top source market for visitors, with the island being just a 90-minute flight from New York, ” the BTA said.
“Bermuda will have a significant presence at the US Open with on-court signage in Arthur Ashe Stadium, presence on US Open digital properties, social media channels and on-site activation space for consumer engagement.The Bermuda Tourism Authority is working in conjunction with the USTA, USTA Player Development and the USTA Foundation to create a new, multifaceted event to take place in Bermuda in 2020.The event will feature a Pro-Am as well as exhibitions with tennis legends and rising American players.
“Specific benefits of the partnership include:
- Court signage will garner significant exposure during 100-plus hours of live coverage in each of Bermuda’s top feeder countries – US, Canada & UK – in addition to 100 other countries.
- Over the course of US Open Fan Week and the two-week tournament, on-site activation space at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center will enable engagement with more than 800,000 fans who align with Bermuda’s visitor targets, 56% of whom are from the New York metro market.
- The multifaceted event to take place in Bermuda in 2020 will bring additional visitor spending and exposure for Bermuda as a premier luxury and sports destination.
“Tennis has important historical roots in Bermuda.Credited by the International Tennis Hall of Fame as the “Mother of American Tennis,” Mary Ewing Outerbridge [born in America to Bermudian parents] first came across the game while visiting her family’s home on the island in 1874, learning tennis from British officers stationed in Bermuda. She later brought tennis equipment back to New York, introducing the sport in her home borough of Staten Island.
US Open trophies on vacation out here at Flatts Village
“An exclusive tourism partnership with the US Open works for Bermuda on so many levels and helps set ourselves apart from our competition,” said Kevin Dallas,CEO of the Bermuda Tourism Authority.
“The brand story of Bermuda introducing the sport of tennis to the United States is just one example of how we punch above our weight as a small island out in the middle of the Atlantic. The collaboration also puts Bermuda in the cultural conversation at one of the must-see events in New York City. As summer comes to a close in the city, we will leverage this platform to invite New Yorkers to extend their summer season with active adventure out here in Bermuda,” Dallas added.
“The addition of a custom event to take place in Bermuda that will create direct spending and provide kids clinics for developing and exposing Bermuda’s youth to tennis greatness and opportunity is icing on the cake.”
“The Bermuda Tourism Authority is introducing the island to a new generation of travelers who match up perfectly with our regional, national and global US Open fan base,” said Gordon Smith, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, USTA. “We look forward to helping increase Bermuda’s exposure as a leading luxury travel destination through this exciting new partnership.”
“The 2019 US Open takes place from August 26 to September 8 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y. The tournament’s recently-completed five-year $600 million strategic transformation provides visitors and partners more room, experiences and activations than ever before. The venue welcomed a record 828,798 attendees in 2018 over the course of the event.”
thank goodness for the BTA!!!
More photo ops. Well done OBA.
Exactly how much are we spending to “partner” with the US Open? I am sure this means Dallas will be traveling to New York on the regular! We need events IN BERMUDA to put money in our local merchant pockets IN BERMUDA not this advertising at US Open and Red Sox crap!
And then you would whine about ‘giving money to millionaires for a sailboat race’.
Too expensive and not enough “bums in seats” to hold a USTA event. It would lose money.
This is no doubt costly, but we still get tourists who are showing up saying “I never realized how close Bermuda was.” It is THAT message they are getting out to the millions who haven’t been here before.
I was laughing at Zane Soprano there, holding the trophy …like he had anything to do with it.
So, you mean events like the Americas Cup, TW Triathlon, international yacht races and regattas? Those types of events? ‘Cos they happen.
Could have another PGA slam or Beyonce concert.
hahahah Beyonce concert cost Bermuda at least $2m!
More likely that Zaney will be visiting the Big Apple on the regular. However, hasn’t the peak tourism season passed by the time the US Open is played? Might result in some more business for Coral Beach but I don’t see it as a real game changer.
The Bermuda Tourism Authority’s marketing partnership with the USTA will be fully funded out of our existing budget; no increases in funding will be required. The full cost of the programme depends on activation specifics that have not been finalised, and some elements are subject to confidentiality clauses present in all USTA agreements. As a general rule, marketing partnerships of this kind must generate at least a 5:1 return on investment for Bermuda to be even considered by the BTA. So for every dollar spent the Bermuda Tourism Authority seeks at least $5 returned in value or economic impact —and in most cases the ROI is higher than 5:1 when a post-event analysis is completed.
New York is our largest feeder market (by far), and the home to our Sales & Marketing team and most of our agency partners. From that you might reasonably conclude that I’m already a regular visitor to the city and don’t need any more reasons to travel.
You also don’t appear to have read the announcement too closely; this partnership includes a customised event to take place out here in Bermuda in 2020 in conjunction with the USTA, USTA player development and the USTA foundation.
The questions raised are legitimate and I don’t see why it is necessary for you to travel on our dime to New York as much as you do!
So what you are really saying is you don’t know what the final cost will be but you already know somehow through a magic ball that you will get the 5:1 ratio you mentioned? That’s just 100% BS Mr Dallas and you know it! Time for you to go!
Fascinating. With relatively well-known former pros like Katrina Adams having visited the island for other functions it may be useful to reach out to them to explore further possibilities, if it hasn’t already been considered.
Obviously ….you haven’t a clue and obviously makes you a green machine member …please crawl back under that rock and let the BTA professionals continue their outstanding work. its obvious you don’t understand the logic behind initiatives that will put Bermuda on a must visit list ….obviously you didn’t like the Americas Cup investment either …turning a 60 million expense into 300 million revenue for our island ….
You obviously don’t know what you are talking about! The AC did NOT return $300M to Bermuda! The PWC report in its entirety and Mr Dallas statement about 5:1 return is all BS! In both cases the money return is fiction at best because they try to convince us of the value in a hit in a website or social media exposure as a return. I can sit there all day like Mr Dallas hitting a webpage! It’s all BS if we don’t have a hot body in a bed, in a store, in a restaurant IN BERMUDA.
Still waiting to see that $300 million. When you get a chance let us all know where it is? Last I saw the only people who made money were the entitled few in the hotel, liquor and import export business and all were privileged business people who could spend to get exclusive rights to everything from bars to transportation. The rest of us got scraps.
Get it from the 1.2 or the overruns on the well managed projects.
If BTA does a post event analysis of the ROI, why doesn’t the BTA put these analysis in their annual report for the public to see? The BTA is funded by through the government purse and the ROI on BTA partnerships/joint ventures should be of interest to to many stakeholders. Will be interesting to read details on USTA’s FARA filing!
Hi Eve -
All of this information *is* in our Annual Report (which is released separately from our audited financials so we can get it in the public’s hands while the information is still fresh).
Have a look at the Corporate Reports section of the BTA Website to see our 2018 report.
Well done Kevin Dallas and the BTA.
This is where the vast majority of our visitors came from in the 60′s and 70′s.
Our large billboard on the highway leading out of NYC to the Hampton’s said.
“If you were going to Bermuda, you would be there by now”