Bermuda’s National Tourism Plan Released: Collaboration, Enabling Change Among Themes
A new National Tourism Plan for Bermuda was unveiled at the Bermuda Tourism Summit today, detailing the country’s roadmap to success for a balanced and growing tourism industry through 2025.
A wide cross-section of the island’s tourism stakeholders was involved to construct the plan:
- More than 150 interviews from a broad group of stakeholders
- 400 residents interviewed
- 377 residents completed an online survey
- 25 working group sessions with stakeholders to get input and feedback
- More than 3,500 visitors and non-visitors surveyed as part of the quantitative research
“On behalf of the Government of Bermuda I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to all who have put their hearts and minds into this endeavour,” said Jamahl Simmons, Minister of Economic Development and Tourism. “Our government believes Bermuda’s greatest asset is its people. That belief underpinned the inclusive approach of the Bermuda Tourism Authority and the Government – embracing the knowledge, wisdom and experience of the country in the creation of a plan that will shape the next phase of Bermuda’s tourism revitalisation.”
“This is purposefully designed to be Bermuda’s plan, not the Bermuda Tourism Authority’s plan,” said Paul Telford, BTA Chairman. “The team gathered input from a variety of voices outside of our organisation – supporters and detractors – to ensure the plan represents the views of as many people as possible because we know Bermuda needs everyone’s buy-in to make the plan successful.”
There are six success indicators for Bermuda to achieve during the six years of the plan between 2019 and 2025. Working groups, made up of partners from across Bermuda, will be tasked with keeping things on track.
SUCCESS INDICATORS BY 2025
- Tourism will contribute $1.2bn to the GDP (Avg. 4.5% leisure visitor growth pa)
- 30% of visitors in the summer will come from airlift (25% in 2016/17)
- >56% of leisure arrivals will be in non-summer (Sep–May) (52% in 2017)
- >8% of leisureair arrivals will be African American (4% in 2017/18)
- >83% would definitely recommend Bermuda to friends/family (76% in 2018)
- >70% of residents will support development of tourism in Bermuda (61% in 2018)
The roadmap for achieving the success indicators is made up of strategies and tactics, which are built into the plan using seven pillars. The pillars are represented in an acronym: AGILITY.
BTA Chief Executive Kevin Dallas said: “AGILITY is a very important part of the National Tourism Plan for three reasons: it’s actionable and easy to remember, it shows the collaboration necessary to make the plan successful and it’s a reminder to all of us that we must be agile in the coming years by enabling the change necessary to be more competitive and consumer-centric.”
A recurring mantra in the plan is an imperative need to focus, given limited resources. On this point the plan is laser-focused on reaching the right people in the right locations for the right reasons. It explains the cities where Bermuda tourism marketing should focus (now and in the future), who the target consumers are and what on-island activities are needed to deliver the quality experiences travellers seek.
The executive summary of the National Tourism Plan was handed out today to delegates at the Bermuda Tourism Summit. It’s also available on the Bermuda Tourism Authority website. The full report with complete research details will be available online in early November.
