Vexed Bermoothes

So, it’s time for the Love Festival, Dr. Brown’s annual Valentine’s bacchanal. Most of us just buy flowers or chocolate for their spouse.

Yes, the role of Bermuda’s Department of Tourism has changed massively over the past 10 years. It has gone from being a booster for Bermuda’s tourism providers, to attempting to be the tourism product itself. In part, this is because the transition of Bermuda from a tourism destination to a business commuter town has killed off many of the small guest houses and providers of activities.

However, Tourism is leading the charge with very costly programmes like the Bermuda Music Festival, the African Diaspora, Faith Based Tourism, and the Love Fest. It is unclear whether any of these attract meaningful numbers of tourists to Bermuda. Last year, we apparently spent more than $3 million on sports sponsorships alone – with events like the Big Apple college basketball tournament in New York.

By comparison, tourism’s smaller sponsorships in Bermuda community-driven events do seem to attract spending visitors – with only modest spending and Government overhead.

For example, the bridge tournament a few weeks ago attracted 300 people. The charitable Elan Round the Sound Swim attracted 100 overseas swimmers last year (many accompanied by families) . The yacht races are well-known tourism drivers, along with the Rugby Classic.  And even the lacrosse folks are getting into it, setting up an invitational for later this year. I’m thinking that the annual Pro-Am is better for Bermuda’s economy than the big-bang PGA.

I am not damning the Department of Tourism for their big activities – some of them are great for locals too. We just need to look at our cost vs benefit a little more frequently, and using honest benchmarks.