BERMUDA – Bermuda’s Premier Dr. Ewart F. Brown, Minister of Tourism and Transport, will host a summit this summer to foster in-depth talks about strengthening the performance of the Bermuda Tourism industry versus a U.S. economy in decline.
The summit was conceptualized earlier this month and invitations began going out to industry partners yesterday. More invitations will be sent as the summit’s agenda takes shape.
Junior Minister of Tourism and Transport Sen. Marc Bean said: “The tourism research tells us that the people in our target audience still intend to travel despite the weak U.S. economy so we need to redouble our efforts to make sure an increasing number of those people choose Bermuda.
“We’re going to get the best brains around the table and see what we can come up with. Tourism is too important to our economy to not make every effort necessary on behalf of the hard-working people in the hospitality industry.”
The planned summit already includes members of the Bermuda Hotel Association, the Chamber of Commerce and the Department of Airport Operations. The event will take place August 15th, 2008.
Most visitors to Bermuda come from the United States where the soft economy and high fuel prices have impacted the travel industry.
Sen. Bean said, “When we meet for the summit our short term focus will be the ’08/’09 golf and spa season. We’ll also discuss if there is a need to further intensify our effort in the U.K and Europe – places less susceptible to the downturn being experienced in the United States.”
