2022 YEAR IN REVIEW

Infrastructure

Building frictionless experiences.

A healthy tourism industry relies on a solid infrastructure to enable us to deliver our distinct experiences to our visitors. While our infrastructure is generally good, there are important ways it needs to be upgraded, most notably in transportation, the waterfront (Hamilton, St. George), utility costs, technology, shopping/retail and accessibility for disabled visitors and residents. In addition, the myriad laws and regulations governing our industry should be simplified and updated.

Air Service Development Strategy

The BTA continued our focus on maintaining close relationships with airline contacts.

Regular meetings were held with air stakeholders, including Skyport, Bermuda Airport Authority (BAA), APAC air service consultants, and hoteliers, to discuss schedule changes and strategy.

Airlines were kept up-to-date on Bermuda’s protocols and hotel inventory to ensure Bermuda remained top of mind for planning.

Bermuda Visitor Service Centres (BVSCs)

Infrastructure & Income

The busy Hamilton Visitor Service Centre has become an architectural landmark in the city since its installation. The instagrammable pink and blue facility on Front Street had to be assessed for structural integrity.

Building permit submitted on December 23rd for the Hamilton VSC to be granted another 3 – 5-year lease on the building

Permit was published in the Royal Gazette on January 25th for any objections

Building is being repaired; rust proofed & painted in Feb 2023, ahead of the busy months of the 2023 season.

There are three BVSCs located in high visitor traffic areas, including the City of Hamilton, the Towne of St George and the Royal Naval Dockyard. The centres serve as an important infrastructure resource for tourists’ travel planning inquiries and a place where local experiences and BTA-developed souvenirs can be purchased.

With cruise travel bouncing back, the Dockyard BVSC measured over 60K in footfall over a quarter time period. Transport sales in the West End facility were a big driver of that line item.

We worked on a planning application to extend the temporary building permit at the Hamilton VSC for another five years. Maintenance work to address leakage will be carried out next quarter.

All BVSC POS terminals are being converted to accept the Pin & Chip in Q4 to avoid chargebacks