A reader writes:
Not only does it bother me that he is manipulating the figures to appear better then that are, but I want to know why he couldn’t use his new media room to make the quarterly announcement. To have a luncheon for a hundred or so invited guests, four times a year to announce tourism figures at a location like Tucker’s Point seems unnecessary. Can you imagine how much food, drink, decorations and the rental of that expensive Audio Visual equipment costs the taxpayers? That’s like the equivalent of having a sit down wedding four times a year just to read off some figures. If you’ve ever planned that kind of wedding you would know… they don’t come cheap!
The quarterly lunches are not quite a wedding, but there is of course no such thing as a free lunch. The whole production around the tourism stats is necessary because when you cut through the BS, tourism isn't performing well at all.
The massive increase in cruise arrivals is being used to mask poor air arrivals; occupancy rates are being used to present high occupancy which in reality is a very low inventory that can't be filled; business travelers are being represented as tourists, and they're filling the restaurants, driving around in taxis and playing golf; the Music Festival, Culinary Festival and Faith Based Tourism events would be deserted if it wasn't for residents.
And, with the latest glamour shots from the Love Festival, an event which was advertised heavily locally, and they still couldn't sell enough tickets for, can't we finally, once and for all, just call these events what they are: personal parties for the Premier, his friends, and those he wants to be friends with when he's done his stopover in Bermuda?
It reminds me of a quote I heard once: "There are two types of politicians: those who want to be someone and those who want to do something."
Posted by Christian S. Dunleavy