US President John F. Kennedy once lectured the chairman of his Council of Economic Advisers about making public statements:
“Forget those numbers. Numbers can come back to haunt you. Words can always be explained away.”
In other words, bury the facts and statistics and talk about the Platinum Period™.
You know that Bermuda tourism is in bad shape when suddenly Bermuda withdraws from the statistical reports published by the Caribbean Tourism Organisation.
The fact that most tourist locations are reporting slumps is no surprise – with other destinations showing drops in air arrivals of 5-15%. Cruise travel is particularly affected – with some destinations showing drops of 20-30%.
That’s worrisome given the huge sums that Bermuda has invested in the Dockyard megaship strategy. Planning laws and other governance processes were overriden in order to get that facility rush ready for this year – and the cruise season just got the recession blues and swine flu. Just wait til Cuba opens its new cruise facilities.
Smile and hug a tourist today. His name is Bob and he’s staying at the Fairmont.
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