In a speech in January 2005, Tourism Minister Ewart Brown promised to “increase air arrivals to 400,000 over the next 3 years”. In 2004, air arrivals stood at 271,600. In 2005, they fell slightly to 269,600. In 2006 they increased...
“In 2007, construction will begin on the new hotel in St. George’s,” said Premier Ewart Brown in May this year. There are still three weeks until the end of the year, but the comments made by Works and Engineering Minister...
Several readers have written in to point out other examples of tourism marketing directed at specific sectors. For example: Faith Based Tourism (Christians). The Government's sponsorship of the Second World Tourism Marketing Summit in China (Chinese business travellers from New...
In today's Royal Gazette, Premier Ewart Brown was asked if there was anything Bermuda could do to encourage gay tourism. "We don't go out and encourage any sector of tourism," was his reply. That's untrue. The Premier is forgetting about...
Might I suggest that if the Department of Tourism is planning to distribute any more promotional videos of Bermuda on YouTube, they make them considerably less boring than this one. Show, don't tell. Disabling comments on them might be a...
Kudos to Jonathan Starling for finding this promotional video for the Southlands development, which includes some artist's impressions of the new resort. Looks pretty ugly to me. » UPDATE: Doug DeCouto has assembled some photos of the planning application, for...
One of the reasons that the Corporation of Hamilton opposed HSBC’s original plan for a new building on the Triminghams site was its height. “The Corporation is opposed to any building in excess of six storeys,” wrote City Engineer David...
In addition to the question-and-answer session with Premier Ewart Brown, tonight’s town hall meeting in St. George’s included a presentation on the results of the cruise ship ports study and upcoming public transport improvements. On cruise ships: Computer simulations have...
The Government has received 14 expressions of interest from organisations interested in redeveloping the Club Med property, at least six of which are from “significant brands”. The announcement was made by Premier Ewart Brown at a town hall meeting in...
Another Club Med developer falls by the wayside and a poll finds that just 16% of people think that Bermuda’s taxi service has improved since GPS was introduced. Meanwhile, despite an improvement in the visitor arrival figures, Transport and Tourism...
I’d like to thank Premier Ewart Brown for finally revealing how much has been paid to airlines in minimum revenue guarantees in order to increase airlift to the island. The answer, provided by airport General Manager Jim Howes in a...
Tony Brannon sent the following letter to the editor of the Royal Gazette and copied it to me. Dear Mr. Editor I believe we still have a crisis in Tourism. I went to all the South Shore hotels this week...
Is a crime worse if its victim is a visitor instead of a resident? Shadow Tourism Minister David Dodwell seems to think so: “A crime against a visitor is a crime against the economy and the perpetrator should get a...
Thanks to sandgrownan for sending in this picture of the cruise ship that ran aground near Dockyard this morning. The Bermuda Sun has a story and photo, and promises further updates as they get them. The Royal Gazette is presumably...
Frustrated by Tourism Minister Dr. Ewart Brown's decision to use taxpayer money to spend a night in a "seven-star" hotel, I decided to email him to get his side of the story. I wanted to see if his assessment of...
Was it really necessary for Tourism Minister Dr. Ewart Brown to stay at the Burj Al Arab, a "seven-star" Dubai hotel, at the Bermuda taxpayers' expense? I think not. Anticipating the criticism, Dr. Brown said he would not apologise for...
In Saturday’s Royal Gazette, Tourism and Transport Minister Dr. Ewart Brown rejected the idea that Smart cars should be available for rent by Bermuda’s visitors. But not for the reason I was expecting. Instead of citing the amount of traffic...
I've scanned in a copy of the new plans for the Hamilton waterfront, for the benefit of anyone who may not have been at last night's presentation. Click on the images for the full-size versions. I strongly support redevelopment of...
The Bermuda Professional Photographic Association (BPPA) has issued a strongly-worded press release condemning the decision of the Government’s new tourism ad agency, Global Hue, to bring in a foreign photographic team to shoot the new Bermuda tourism ads. The BPPA...
Last week the Fairmont Southampton Princess announced plans for a major redevelopment. 91 new "golf villas" will be built and made available for fractional purchase and vacation rental, while the existing golf course will lose half of its 18 holes...
When former St. George’s mayor E. Michael Jones called a snap election last month, some people wondered why he’d do such a thing almost a year before the end of his term. Mr. Jones said it was to avoid a...
Last Tuesday, 3,200 gay cruisers landed on Grand Cayman. To greet the visitors in a variety of ways were hundreds of residents who lined the city of George Town streets. They were vocal in one of three ways – “welcome”,...
Two strangers who won a “blind wedding” in a competition organised by a UK radio station are coming to Bermuda on their honeymoon. “The newlyweds held hands, kissed and revealed that they were looking forward to getting to know each...
When I first learned about the new weekly flight from Bermuda to Munich that will begin next year, I was excited. In addition to its potential for bringing vacationing Europeans to Bermuda, it sounded like something that ought to make...
The Bermuda Triangle was in the news this week as the US House of Representatives honoured the 60th anniversary of the loss of the first air crew there. The story started me wondering, again, why Bermuda has done nothing to...
Various people have pointed out that Bermuda needs to offer something more then its competitors as far as its tourism product goes, with many people coming down on the side of gambling and casinos. I say, consider hunting. There are...
A couple of weeks ago, I sat down for a chat with St. George's mayor, E. Michael Jones, about cruise ships and Bermuda's ailing tourist industry. WEDCO and the Corporations of Hamilton and St. George's are all considering how their...
Another thing that I realised while playing tourist last week is that Bermuda doesn't have many places to go for a fancy meal after a day of sightseeing in shorts and T-shirt. On my cousin's last night in Bermuda, we...
More random thoughts after spending a couple of days last week showing my cousin around the Island. Why doesn't Bermuda have more beachfront bars? Specifically, why don't we have more beachfront bars where you can hang out in in the...
The Department of Tourism has done a good job this year in increasing the number of things for our visitors to do on an evening. However, one of the things that struck me while showing some members of my family...
It's rumoured that Bermuda is being considered for location shooting for the next James Bond film, Casino Royale. If this works out it could be a bigger boost to our tourist industry than a thousand Pop and Sizzle flags. [via...
Larry Burchall gets it spot on. How many more people will have to say that it takes too long to get through Bermuda's airport before someone does something about it?
Here's an extract from the travel journal of one of our cruise ship visitors, here on vacation right now: "The ship moved (very slowly) from Hamilton to St. George overnight. St. George is a posh colonial town that was almost...
I'm amazed that whenever a tropical storm prevents a cruise ship from coming to Bermuda, the cruise lines feel no shame in simply diverting their vessel to an alternative - usually colder - destination. If Royal Caribbean's passengers had wanted...
The American city of Nashville is considering starting a weekly direct flight to Bermuda. A guest visit to Bermuda from Metro Councilman-at-Large Adam Dread over the July 4th weekend started as a discussion on Nashville’s Passenger Bill of Rights as...
According to an unscientific poll that's been running on this site, an overwhelming majority of readers do not believe that Bermuda should widen the channels into its harbours in order to accommodate larger cruise ships. Mega Cruise Ships Should Town...
It's amazing the stuff you can find on Google. This lunchtime I thought I do a quick search on Google Video for anything to do with Bermuda (actually I did it here, which only returns those results which are playable)....
Good and bad news on the cruise ship front. The bad news is that Transport and Tourism Minister Dr. Ewart Brown now wants to park an ugly 950-foot cruise ship stuffed with 2,500 passengers right outside my front window. That’s...
Why are we frittering away our tourism budget on "Pop By" flags and pink golf tees when Gibbs Hill Lighthouse and Church Bay are still a mess? Judging by these ideas, Dr. Brown clearly has more money than he knows...
Royal Gazette Opinion, Thursday 23 June 2005 Tucked away at the easternmost end of Bermuda is the Town of St. George. Bermuda’s only World Heritage site, it’s also my home. Most Bermudians may only bother to visit once or twice...
I have to admit to being somewhat sceptical about the likely impact of the new “Pop By” flag programme just launched by Bermuda’s Department of Tourism. The hope seems to be that we’ll cart around one of these luridly coloured...
Since spending an enervating ninety minutes clearing immigration and customs at the airport last year, I’ve wanted to write an in-depth piece on the awfulness of Bermuda's entry procedures. Then the week before last, Bermuda Sun columnist Tom Vesey beat...
Most people are in favour of having casinos in Bermuda, if a poll conducted on A Limey In Bermuda over the last couple of weeks is indicative of general feeling. 51% of respondents supported the idea of having casinos here,...
The Government may be breaking the spirit, if not the letter, of its own Standard for Electronic Transactions. According to today's Royal Gazette, "The Department of Tourism are filling the e-mail in-boxes of nearly 240,000 potential visitors with an interactive...
The Ministry of Tourism and Transport has asked the public to please not inconvenience the BIU by demanding a bus or ferry service between 10.30am and 2.30pm tomorrow (Tuesday 8 February), when the Union will be holding another general meeting....
Royal Gazette Opinion, 27 January 2005 (unedited version, with the pun on the UPS slogan still intact in the title) Last Monday, Minister of Tourism Dr. Ewart Brown delivered a speech in which he outlined the Government’s plan for reviving...
The cheap airfares now available to Bermuda from the US are being publicised in an article circulating in the American media. The Associated Press story has been published in newspapers including the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the San Diego North...
The new World Heritage Visitor Centre currently under construction in St. George’s will not be just another under-funded museum. That was the message delivered to attendees at a special luncheon of the St. George’s Foundation today, sponsored by the Bank...
Bermuda.com has already begun to change following its acquisition by the Bermuda Sun last week. The first casualty seems to have been the forums, which have disappeared from the home page. I have no idea why the Sun have chosen...
If, like me, you're sick of the hordes of tight-assed American cruise visitors who for eight months of the year clog our buses, crash their mopeds and spend no money whatsoever in our stores, you may want to sit down....
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