Government needs to empower private industry to help tourism

FRIDAY, JUNE 24: It is not my intention to focus on why Tony Brannon was fired from the Tourism Board or point fingers at the well intentioned Minister of Tourism Patrice Minors and the members of her Board.

The focus of these comments is centered on:

• The need to address the decline in our important tourism industry;

• Understand why the PLP Government continue to ignore the empirical information and operate tourism under the same model the UBP had already identified needed a complete overhaul;

• Recognize that many of our global competitors have adopted Tourism Authorities and have experienced growth;

• Appreciate that the private sector and their entrepreneurial mindset is what is needed to reinvent tourism for Bermuda.

The truth is that 13 years since a Tourism Authority was first proposed by the last UBP Tourism Minister David Dodwell the concept still remains what is best for our struggling Tourism industry.

Former UBP Minister Dodwell and our UBP colleagues of ‘98 recognized at that time, that the time had come for a Tourism Authority for Bermuda.  In hindsight, the PLP’s best efforts for the past 13 years cannot succeed because the model needs changing. But it is not too late and clearly this shift would go a long way to take the bureaucracy and politics out of the management and decision making of this vital industry.

For far too many years this call (Tourism Authority) has proven to be a futile exercise whilst Tourism continued to spiral downward led by politicians. For the record, the decline was recognized by the UBP during our tenure and a Tourism Authority was a solution to arrest the decline.

A UBP model

Since 1998, successive PLP Tourism Ministers have continued with the model that they inherited from the United Bermuda Party. A model that research recommended needed to be changed by empowering the private enterprise.

It is most unfortunate that this most important recommendation, that of a Tourism Authority that would help Bermuda Tourism, has been summarily dismissed by the successive PLP administrations. One of the unfortunate results is the plethora of policy changes with each new Tourism Minister.

For example, former PLP Tourism Minister Renee Webb, like Mr. Dodwell also reached the conclusion that a Tourism Authority was best for Bermuda. That vision was not realized and she was later replaced by Dr. Ewart Brown and the emergence of the platinum period took off in Bermuda. Unfortunately, during Dr. Brown’s platinum period, the statistical facts were of diminished importance and took a back seat to great press releases, untendered contracts and questionable initiatives.

Today we have an opportunity to embrace the best decision for our tourism industry. That is the establishment of a Tourism Authority.

 It is worthy of note that, the report of the Bermuda First Committee also recommended serious consideration for the implementation of a Tourism Authority.

Bermuda can be reassured that several other jurisdictions — like Hawaii in 1998 — have experienced similar considerations and implemented Tourism Authorities that truly empowered their private sector industry stakeholders.

A successful economic future for Bermuda hinges on the rejuvenation of private enterprise, the creation of more local jobs and a smaller government; and all that that entails.

A Tourism Authority would be a huge step to empower Bermuda’s business intellectual capacity and ignite increased entrepreneurial spirit of the private industry.

Kim Swan is a United Bermuda Party MP.