Column: Kim Swan On OBA, Tourism & More
[Opinion column written by Kim Swan]
The OBA says they support tourism, but history shows that support is not what you say, it’s what you do.
The OBA always says the right things about tourism while at the same time questioning and undermining the work and investment needed to grow it. Whether it’s creating doubt about developers and developments or pushing back on positive progress there is a definite pattern. The totality of their actions and approach sends the wrong signals to investors at a time when Bermuda is rebuilding momentum and bringing investment back.
Tourism supports thousands of Bermudian families and is the bedrock of our heritage. It is an industry that runs on confidence from Bermudians, visitors, airlines, hotel partners, and investors. That confidence comes from consistency. Mixed messages slow that down and make the work even harder. Only clear commitment and steady leadership can grow this industry.
Yet despite the erratic commentary and inconsistent commitment displayed by the Opposition, we are working to strengthen Bermuda’s tourism product, increasing our presence in key markets, and supporting growth across the industry.
Bermuda needs commitment on tourism, not idle chatter designed to distract, divide, and dismantle progress.
- Jr Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport Kim Swan
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Yawn.
Another political leech and dinosaur crawling out from the woodwork to remind us all of how overpaid they are whilst providing essentially no value to the country.
“Another political leech and dinosaur”
And former (and final) UBP leader.
Really makes you wonder where Swan has been since 2012. How many new hotels were started (and completed) by the OBA versus how many the PLP have started since 1998? Add to that, the PLP has given away massive tax breaks to foreign investors to help them make their fortunes in real estate, posing as tourist units.
Ringmaster, you did not mention selling off tracts of Bermuda land (such as Southside) or allowing hotels such as Cambridge Beaches to be sold to foreigners.
Come on Kim Swan, who wrote that for you? Did it come from the propaganda division of Alaska Hall? Are you familiar with St Georges? There is quite a fancy hotel out by Ft St Cathrines that the OBA got built in a few years after the PLP failed to get anything done in 15 years.
The OBA came to power in 2013 and suddenly all kinds of tourism projects that were suspended due to lack of economic confidence from 1998 to 2012 in the PLP were suddenly proceeding. If not for PLP negativity Caroline Bay would have been long completed and occupied today my mega wealthy sitting on their balconies sipping rum swizzles while enjoying the views of their yachts across the way in the marina.
“We don’t need no white guys and their fancy yachts.” Yeah, that sure was welcoming.
Swan, and his new found friends, might want to compare a few Bermuda tourist maps from the 90s to today and see how many hotels that once were and now no longer exist. Some literally wiped off of the map. Others are now local accommodation, never to return as a tourism property.
Holiday Inn/Lowes/Club Med, Ariel Sands, Palmetto Bay, Bermudiana, Waterloo, Horizons, Sonesta Beach …
It was the PLP who kept covid travel restrictions until the end of 2022, unlike all our tourism competitors, solely for the purpose of making sure the testing and tracing contractors got paid millions of taxpayer dollars.