Comments on: BTA Release 3rd Quarter & YTD Tourism Figures

By: Eve

Eve — Mon, 11 Nov 2019 15:39:25 +0000

The Bermuda Department of Tourism management failed because they allowed the hoteliers to adopted the attitude what they were providing for guests was “good enough”, the bottom line was more important than the guests. Gone was the ‘guest service’ that Bermuda tourism was built on and hotels that once had a 5 Star rating we’re lucky to get 3 Star. Some of the same former BDOT individuals with same attitude were directly involved with setting up the BTA. BTA needs to go back and study how all the hoteliers, the government and the locals worked as a team to promote tourism, before decline under the BDOT and BTA.

By: Kevin Dallas

Kevin Dallas — Sun, 10 Nov 2019 14:32:24 +0000

I think most Bermudians appreciate that it’s possible to have pride in Bermuda’s tourism history while also recognising that “going back to the base” and failing to innovate is how we went from 6,000 hotel rooms in 1980 to fewer than 2,500 today.

Bermuda’s National Tourism Plan (It’s not only the BTA’s) is built from AB understanding that we are a destination set apart, with unique challenges, but also opportunities. The plan acknowledged that 2019 would be a challenging year, and sets the focus squarely on executing a long term strategic vision for tourism.

Anyone interested may want to have a look at the content from last month’s Tourism Summit (“The Long View”) on our web site where we talked about progress to date in implementing the plan.

By: Ringmaster

Ringmaster — Sat, 09 Nov 2019 21:54:04 +0000

How many visitors came to watch the PGA Bermuda Championship? Forget TV numbers, how many heads in beds? Watching the coverage I would say very few apart from the participants so what was the financial benefit to Bermuda and those Bermudians who we were told didn’t benefit from the America’s Cup? Did they benefit from the Bermuda Championship?

By: Mb

Mb — Sat, 09 Nov 2019 14:15:01 +0000

Why would anyone want to come here?
We have nothing to offer but over priced stale
hotel rooms and nothing to do that’s fun
Celebrities don’t instagram us and that’s marketing 101 today
The hotels are of poor quality and way overpriced for
what you get compared to Caribbean
The best resort right ON the beach on the
island is a falling apart stinking property
inexplicably allowed to continue to sit in
disrepair and be owned by a Saudi prince who cares nothing for it, and now run not by a legit great hotel brand but by the
owners of a pizza and pasta chain!!!
You can do all you want and win awards for
all the plans on paper u want but you will
Never succeed without hotels that keep pace with today’s travelers
Most people – if u look at these stats – are business travelers, with a tiny portion that is Airbnb
Shocking
bTA needs go and tourism minister whoever that now is needs to
PGA… you want talk about a ‘sailboat race’ well
pGA was a golf game at a dingy golf club – nice grounds – but the event was a tourism and commercial fail …for which only Zane benefitted
Wake up Bermuda
Tourism is dying a death

By: Joe Bloggs

Joe Bloggs — Sat, 09 Nov 2019 12:58:19 +0000

“Spending by Bermuda’s leisure air visitors is up so far this year compared to 2018, the BTA said today [Nov 8], despite fewer air arrivals during the third quarter following flight cancellations caused by Hurricane Humberto and reduced air capacity.”

So, a bit of a mixed result. Visitor spending is up, which is good. Air arrivals are down, which is bad.

I do not believe that a 7.2% drop in leisure air visitors is down to hurricanes. It has more to do with reduced capacity and reduced capacity is caused by lack of demand. Commercial markets, such as airlines, are profit driven. If the demand to come to Bermuda existed, air capacity would also exist. Please take note of that Honourable Minister of Tourism.

By: Question

Question — Sat, 09 Nov 2019 09:59:36 +0000

Down 7.2%. Thanks Zane, well done.

By: Onion Juice

Onion Juice — Sat, 09 Nov 2019 04:48:05 +0000

$1000 a day job.

By: Eve

Eve — Sat, 09 Nov 2019 01:29:12 +0000

The continued decline in leisure air arrivals should be a wake up for tourism stakeholders and others who have been blindly supporting the BTA without looking closely at the sales and marketing schemes funded by the BTA. in 2018 there were a record number of Americans who traveled out of the country and 2019 figures are ahead of 2018. The decline in air leisure arrivals supports the belief BTA claimed increases were only piggybacking on increases in Americans and Canadians traveling.
Bermudians have been accepting BTA’s constant claims of increased visitor spending without getting the facts on how the visitor spending figures are calculated; they are a GUESSTIMATE. The Government should be challenging the BTA visitor spending figures.
When the BTA started they didn’t go back to the base that carried Bermuda tourism for decades, instead they hired people with no experience in Bermuda tourism thinking Bermuda was like other destinations. The new BTA hires didn’t understand the history of tourism in Bermuda and how to implement plans that took advantage of the history of Bermuda tourism. Obviously BTA’s own National Tourism Plan is more off course than the first one done by a consultant that had no Bermuda experience!