Caribbean Travel Marketplace 2023: Bermuda Is Back

Stephen Todd, Chief Executive Officer of the Bermuda Hotel Association, is attending the 41st edition of Caribbean Travel Marketplace in Barbados and he sat down with Caribbean News Digital to talk about his country’s return to the regional tourism organizations and on what the future holds for that beautiful territory.

Just let me ask you about Bermuda, which is returning to the Caribbean Tourism Organization. What does this mean for the Bermuda Hotel Association?

It's a very positive move and one that we're very, very pleased with because we’re aware of the fact that, you know, after a long absence from the Caribbean Tourism Organization, we now have returned. We were working in close collaboration with our cousins, as we like to refer to them in the Caribbean. We're obviously a bit further north than the Caribbean islands, however, we have a similar outlook in philosophy. We want to ensure that we are aligned in terms of how we market our jurisdiction and our destinations and by returning to the Caribbean Tourism Organization that allows us to restore those longstanding relationships with them. So it's welcome news for Bermuda and for the Hotel Association and our members.

How has investment fared over the past few years for the sake of the island nation’s accommodation industry?

That’s what we've been doing at the Association, in close collaboration with the (Bermuda) Tourism Authority. We have also been working in close collaboration with the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association members and reviewed our ties with all members of CHTA, and now that we have restored our membership within CTO, that is bringing everything back together under one umbrella. And I think that's going to allow us as a collective to have more a positive impact on our ability to attract more business and leisure to our to our destination in the future 

Regarding the airlift with other countries, how's the situation as we speak?

It's much improved now that we're still navigating through the post pandemic era. Obviously, all of us are in a tourism economy recovery period. But we've also been getting much needed support from our longstanding airline partners. I'm pleased to say that a number of our seasonal carriers have come back and so we've got excellent airlift coming out of New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Washington and Atlanta. We're also very pleased to have Boston back in and we've got Charlotte and Miami. Then obviously from Canada, we've got both our share of Air Canada and WestJet and others from the UK and the European markets. Our primary carrier is British Airways, which is a big concern for all of us. But hopefully as soon as we start to see the world coming back to some level of normalcy, we'll hopefully see a reduction in airline ticket costs which hopefully will give rise to even more people traveling.

Is also the Latin American market important for Bermuda?

Absolutely. Part of our tourism plan is the strategy to broaden our reach. So, it is an area that we'd like to see more visitors coming from the South American and the Latin American area as a whole; that would be very keen. And of course, connectivity is going to be important. That market would likely be serviced through Miami. It's seasonal for us right now. Unfortunately, we're going to be having a bit of an absence of airlift from direct flights out of Miami, starting at the end of this month. There’s a planned suspension on the part of American Airlines from May through October, but we understand that they will be restoring that service in November. We will continue to lobby to hopefully get them to reconsider their position and continue to service

And what can you tell me about Europe as an outbound market?

Europe is actually proven to be a very good growth market for us. And the reason I say that is because with our connection coming out of London’s Heathrow with British Airways, it's a better connection for any of our future visitors coming out of Europe, because they can travel from their countries and cities of origin in one day. So, by connecting to Heathrow, they had the ability to start their journey from their host country, connect through Heathrow and be landing there on that same day, rather than what was previously a challenge for them coming through Gatwick, so they had to stay overnight in order to make the connection. 

What are the expectations for the rest of the year in the tourism sector?

We've seen a very good uptick in the number of bookings, events bookings and the booking windows because we're finding that our prospective guests recognize that they can take advantage of any promotions that Bermuda has and we have a number of them in the market that will be coming up in the coming months. And we're expecting that we will see a good summer period and the remainder of the rest of the country in terms of growth and a restoration of our overall occupancy levels in our hotel vacation rental properties that were once abandoned. 

As to the recovery after the pandemic as fast as in other Caribbean countries, we were probably one of the last countries to completely relax our protocols. We actually relaxed them at the end of November of last year. But our government did an extremely good job of ensuring that we minimize the adverse impact of the pandemic because we are a small country. Our residents are only about 60,000 people, so we didn't wish to have the possibility of seeing an uptick in the number of cases. And although we would have liked to have seen the regulations and protocols gone sooner, it was a move that we understood and now that we are completely open for business. We're welcoming every visitor to come and see Bermuda.