Bermuda's Tourism Industry Shows Promising Year-Over-Year Recovery
Bermuda Tourism Authority (BTA) released the 2022 visitor arrivals report. Over the past three years the global tourism industry has faced wide-reaching challenges and Bermuda has not been spared. Despite the challenges, 2022 became a pivotal year for Tourism in Bermuda. While Bermuda has not yet returned to 2019 visitor volumes, the island saw significant year over year growth (2022 as compared with 2021) across key tourism measures including air capacity, leisure air visitors and cruise travel. Though significant increases were seen in 2022, year-end statistics underscore that more work remains to be done.
The data shows that in 2022 Bermuda had a total visitor arrival (air, cruise & yacht) recovery of 68% of 2019. Air visitors recovered to 54% of 2019 levels while cruise visitors recovered to 75%. The UK was the fastest recovering source market for leisure air visitors in 2022, achieving 75% of 2019 levels. Though hotel inventory was severely challenged in 2022, with the continued closure of some of Bermuda’s major properties, hotel inventory recovered to approximately 73% of 2019 levels.
Additionally, the vacation rentals sector saw results which exceeded 2019 occupancy levels by 10 percentage points. In the area of Superyachts, which has been a focus for the BTA, calls increased 84% over 2021, and the economic impact from these calls increasing 147% YoY, from $1.4M in 2021 to $3.4M in 2022.
“The BTA is committed to measuring industry performance and ensuring transparency with our stakeholders and the public. While there is more work to do to reach our pre-pandemic visitation levels, the data shows strong forward momentum. Hotel and air capacity continue to be limiting factors, however, bookings this year are looking strong, and we expect additional growth in 2023.” said Erin Smith, Chief Operations Officer, BTA.
The BTA continues to focus not only on visitation to Bermuda but promoting and curating on-island experiences with the goal of increasing visitor spending. In 2022, the average spend per air visitor rose to $1,852 per person, up 24.8% from 2019. Total Air visitor spending reached $270.1M in 2022 (68% of 2019), up 120% from 2021. The average spend per cruise visitor rose to $255 per person, up 13% from 2019. Total Cruise visitor spending reached $102.7M in 2022 (91% of 2019), up 2405% from 2021.
Tracy Berkeley, BTA Interim CEO said: “2022 has proven to be a pivotal year for the travel and tourism industry with the gradual elimination of pandemic-related friction. We understand that, like us, the island’s tourism sector is eager for growth to surpass 2019 performance. Our team is committed to the execution of our strategic recovery plan and we continue to be guided by the long-term goals of the National Tourism Plan which include increasing the economic impact of our visitors.”
Though Covid-19’s impact still lingers throughout the industry, the BTA continues to move forward with the objective of increasing leisure visitation. Early bookings indicate that Bermuda is on track to have a robust year and we encourage stakeholders, industry partners, and residents to prepare for a busy summer season. As the island’s tourism business rebounds, undoubtedly the people of Bermuda will continue to give visitors the warm welcome that our island is renowned for.
ABOUT BERMUDA TOURISM AUTHORITY (BTA)
The Bermuda Tourism Authority (BTA) is an award-winning, accredited destination marketing organisation that promotes Bermuda internationally and works to empower our tourism industry stakeholders. Explore Bermuda’s National Tourism Plan.
