Recently in Tourism Category

The sudden re-emergence of the Southlands/Morgan's Point saga, which is morphing into a scandal of potentially major proportions, is getting ugly fast.

You knew something was up when the Special Development Order Premier, the one who approved an original Southlands plan that concreted in a huge section of coastal cliffs on South Shore, proclaimed that the Morgan's Point plan had too much concrete.

So today we have the Premier coordinating a rather cowardly rebuttal behind an 'anonymous spokesperson' in the paper with some pretty low attacks on the ability and acumen of the Southlands group. I must say that I'm a bit surprised that the Gazette played along with the 'anonymous spokesperson' game.

There's a lot to unpack in this story just from the past two days. Nelson Hunt was throwing around some serious allegations/implications on Everest Decosta's radio show today, including the Premier advocating for a Turks and Caicos developer implicated in the Turks and Caicos corruption inquiry, but suffice it to say that this thing reeks of impropriety.

Brian Dupperreault is arguably Bermuda's greatest individual business success story, heading ACE, one of our flagship companies (the Finance Minister's employer), and directing it to great heights and investor returns. He is currently the head of one of the world's largest professional services and insurance/reinsurance intermediaries. 2009 income for MMC was over $10 Billion. So for the Premier to dismiss the Southlands group as amateurs is weak.

Mr. Duppereault didn't make his many, many millions by making un-thought out investments and picking fights with politicians. He has generally kept a pretty low key profile and lets the results do the talking.

Of course he isn't a pushover, but you can be sure that all of Bermuda's international business executives will be taking note of the tone and personal element of the Goverment's rebuttals.

Here's the thing. While this might seem like huge money to a lot of people, to a guy like Mr. Duppereault it isn't. It's certainly real money, it's not peanuts, but this investment is not going to make or break him, so he has nothing to gain from getting into some pissing match with politicians, but nor is he beholden to them. And that must make the Premier more than a little nervous to have someone with Mr. Dupperreault's character, stature and influence sending a strong message that something stinks at 105 Front St..

It also means that Mr. Dupperreault isn't going to jeopardize his hard earned reputation and position as the head of a publicly traded company messing around with shady deals.

Nelson Hunt has taken a different approach, and declared that he has nothing to lose and isn't going to hold back. If this wasn't so serious and have such implications for Bermuda's reputation and future, I'd recommend grabbing some popcorn and pull up a chair.

If you read the timeline laid out in the Gazette yesterday, and listened to Nelson Hunt today, the Premier's behaviour is very suspect and shady.

One element jumped out at me, which seemed to really sum up how the Southlands group were trying to keep the politicians at arms length. For this they were criticised for being out of their depth:

He [Anonymous spokesperson] claimed the Southlands directors would not take advice from Government's consultants. "They just wanted to fight with these guys," said the spokesperson. "They [Southlands Ltd.] spent a whole heap of money spinning their wheels."

And he said they refused offers of assistance in attracting partners, including having the Premier and Cabinet Secretary attend meetings. "It would demonstrate to the development partner the Government's commitment. We made that offer on more than one occasion; they never took us up on that."

There's a perfectly good reason why reputable developers and investors don't want politicians sitting in their business meetings and business plans.

It screams of corruption.

They weren't out of their depth, they were protecting their reputations and credibility.

Politicians should not get this involved in development deals in this way. It is completely inappropriate and should set off all sorts of alarms.

When you see politicians cozying up with developers, the developers look to be in bed with the politicians and the politicians look like they're on the take.

That the Premier can't see that, or doesn't care, and that his colleagues permit this should be very, very worrying to every Bermudian.

There is really nothing left to say about the outgoing Premier's personal party otherwise known as The Love Festival and other events which possess no economic value to Bermuda. But the self-indulgence grows.

The use of the Tourism portfolio as a vehicle for Dr. Brown's obsession with celebrity - both creating his own and worshiping at the altar of others - cannot be denied.

Dr. Brown's time in Tourism and as Premier are lost years for Bermuda.

It's so bad that his paid boosters can only point to free Bermuda College tuition and free child care as accomplishments on his watch (neither of which the Government can now afford by the way). That's it. Not quite trans-formative leadership is it? Controversy, debt and division will be his legacy.

The silence of so many PLP MPs and members amazes me. The loyalty to party over principle is not good for their party or Bermuda.

I suspect at this point they, like many others, are just counting down the months and hoping that this will all seem like a bad dream.

If it were only that easy. Bermuda is going to be cleaning up this mess for years.

A big shout out to my new reader from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, who started reading on the 25th.

I wouldn't have pegged you as a Mac user, but it's nice to know you care.

The PLP website boldly declares that the new flight from Toronto indicates that "WestJet [is] Bullish on Bermuda Tourism".

Or..."Westjet bullish on students, friends & family."

Additional airlift and competition is always a good thing, but the Miami flight was pitched as a tourism coup as well, but any local who has been on that flight knows that when you return from Miami you get through Immigration much faster if you skip the long Bermudians and Residents lines and head right for the empty visitor section.

The tourism picture is bleak and worsening. That's not news.

But the story on the sale of Waterloo house, ending its time as a tourism property as it will be redeveloped into commercial residential space, was interesting for this comment from the developers:

Originally they wanted to build a hotel on the site as they own other hospitality properties in London, but found it was too small.

"We could not get the numbers to work as we would not have been able to have enough rooms," Mr. Green said. "We are now hoping to do a combination of office and residential.

An investor is on record admitting that the numbers for small properties no longer work. It's hard to see how the numbers work for larger properties in Bermuda as well.

The financing and capital just doesn't seem to exist for large scale developments in Bermuda; and it's hard to see the new Tucker's Point Hotel's experience as inspiring to potential hotel developers.

The optimist in me hopes someone finds a way to make this work, but the realist in me wonders what the economic model for hotel development in Bermuda is?

The numbers for small developments don't work, the capital required for large developments doesn't seem available for Bermuda? Something has to give if tourism development in Bermuda is to make sense to potential developers and financiers: capital is limited, labour costs are high, staffing and immigration rules are onerous, air arrivals are in a free fall, on island entertainment is almost non-existent, St. George's is a ghost town.

A couple of weeks ago the Gazette ran an article that frankly seemed delusional, listing off the same old properties all saying financing is in place and they'll be breaking ground shortly. We've heard this before, for years in fact.

I propose a new rule: no-one - particularly the outgoing Premier - is allowed to declare that a tourism development is imminent until the bulldozers are idling behind the press conference.

To date, the outgoing Premier/Tourism Minister's greatest tourism achievement has been the implosion of an old hotel. That about sums up his time at the helm.

With XL re-domesticating from the Cayman Islands to Ireland, our tourism stats look set to take a hit as well:

XL Capital has no employees in the Cayman Islands and McGavick said he has not traveled to the British territory once during his 18-month tenure as CEO. The operational headquarters will remain in Bermuda, but more than half the board meetings will be in Ireland to comply with regulations for establishing a holding company there, McGavick said.

Those board members get reported as tourists in the deliberately obfuscated air arrival numbers.

Good to see a new flight to Toronto on WestJet, starting in May of 2010. Air Canada could use a little competition on that route.

I suspect the benefit will be greatest for locals and Canadian families than tourists, but every little bit helps.

There was also a dump of selected stats released again on tourism today. I'm only linking to the article because I'm at the stage where I find tourism stats completely incomprehensible. The constant reclassifications, reporting period changes and highly selective snapshots provided make any kind of informed analysis of trends almost impossible.

Most of the incoherence I put down to political interference, but some is also the press not charting things out, preferring to describe in 1,000 words what could be best illustrated in a nice little picture.

Take this for example:

However air arrivals did increase in September, by one percent -- previously, industry leaders predicted the air arrivals figures would be lower.

One percent in September is rounding error; one percent is Michael Bloomberg bringing a couple extra NY politicians down for a round of golf.

We need trends, not cherry-picked snapshots. A couple of disconnected points does not a trend make.

My perhaps cynical read of this article on amending the gambling laws (which I'm personally ambivalent about - it will neither save nor destroy Bermuda tourism), is that this legislation will be crafted so that a vote against gambling means Crown and Anchor will disappear from Cup Match. Now that would be an interesting tactic... and fun to watch unfold:

"We will table a Green Paper that will set out the research commissioned by the Task Force on Gaming. There will be some clear indications of what is not suitable for Bermuda and what, provided it is supported, Bermuda could have.

"Additionally, the Paper will recommend consolidation of all laws that touch on gaming of any kind into one piece of legislation. This will permit far greater certainty and clarity in the law.

"In my view, once we as a community are able to make an informed decision based on high quality, independent research, we can make a decision that represents what is best for all of us in Bermuda."

I know I've been a persistent critic of the Music Festival, but it's with reason. So here it goes again:

The measure of the success of the Music Festival isn't whether it was 'a huge hit' as the PLP website declares, or whether the acts were entertaining.

Success is whether the event delivered tourists to the island, which is after all the mandate of the Department of Tourism.

This image from the first night of the music festival, as well as the many empty seats visible in the video footage, suggest that even in a much smaller venue seat sales were weak.

That isn't much of a surprise when you consider that the lineup was a mystery until weeks before the event, which is clearly not conducive to travel planning, hence the plethora of freebies which were circulating in the last couple of weeks.

I must admit to being a little bewildered that after Government hired Rock Newman to promote the event the appearance was that he then outsourced the lineup to "Quincy Jones" and (as yet unknown) "Friends" in a last minute Hail Mary.

The taxpayers of Bermuda deserves an economic impact study of the Bermuda Music Festival, the Love Festival and the PGA Grand Slam, not the subjective declarations of success from the vested political interests and their hired hands.

I worked on the first JazzFest, and believe that an event like this has its place in our calendar, but it is so far off the mark right now that it isn't funny. It needs to be completely reassessed and reworked with a clear mandate and time frame for moving it towards profitability and/or a private sector initiative.

It has become increasing hard for even the most charitable souls to deny that these events, and participation in Bermuda politics in general, are an extension of Dr. Brown's obsession with celebrity, both his own and others.

if you don't believe that, just view the paid images on the Getty Images website of Dr. Brown with the beautiful people, and the press release from the Bermuda Music Festival about the premier of the Michael Jackson movie with Dr. Brown and "the First Lady" as one of the confirmed celebrity appearances.

This really needs to stop. These events are catering to the wrong constituency. It's little more than a taxpayer funded celebrity vehicle for Dr. Brown.

What we need are dispassionate numbers about the economic value of these events to Bermuda. And spin like the 'audience of 80 million" for the PGA tournament isn't it. That's the total subscriber base, not actual ratings.

Not unexpected news that Elbow Beach's main building is closing for the next few years. Bad and unexpected news that the redevelopment will be on a much smaller scale.

Meanwhile, in a severe case of extremely bad timing, the PLP website headline reads "We're #1! Bermuda Receives Top Conde Nast Ranking" with the lead off line of:

"The Platinum Period revitalization of our tourism product is continuing to pay dividends."

This message discipline around the "Platinum Period" tag line in the face of all time low arrival numbers, hotel closures, layoffs and announcements of future announcements regarding hotel development is sheer message delusion.

If Dr. Brown, and the PLP in general, want to be taken seriously they have to drop the Platinum Period shtick and acknowledge reality. Saying that we're 'holding our own' is not reality. We are not 'holding our own'.

Continuing this delusion about tourism being in its ascendancy while it is in an accelerated decline will do serious long term damage to the PLP's credibility as well as Bermuda's long term economic prospects. Dr. Brown won't have to deal with that if he leaves office as he says he will next October, but someone will.

Who in the PLP will have the guts to tell them to drop the politics and focus on the policy. They say the first step to recovery is admitting that you have a problem.

Government needs to stop trying to put a positive spin on things and peddle trumped up stats and empty promises. Build a viable economic model around tourism, and stop throwing money at vanity projects such as the Bermuda Music Festival, The Love Festival and other non-performing events.

Running tourism by press release has exhausted itself. Hard reality should have set in by now.

Why is it that when Dr. Brown loses on an issue he says the island needs to 'take an adult decision' on something, in this case gambling?

How condescending is that.

It wasn't particularly adult to try unsuccessfully to ram through a bill he knew he lacked a majority on in Parliament? That felt far from adult.

I believe that bill might have succeeded if handled properly and with respect, rather than by diktat. That move, on the heels of the secretive Uighar move, is what cost Dr. Brown what little political capital he had and now has him held captive to his backbench.

In the hands of a more credible leader who doesn't rule through brinkmanship, the cruise gambling bill may have succeeded.

He is solely to blame.

Isn't it time to go ahead and just rename the Department of Tourism to The Department of Local Entertainment (The DOLE)?

I'm confused.

Tickets to the Music Festival are being returned for more local sales.

That can't be true. Because on July 3rd, Premier Ewart Brown said, and I quote:

"It's already known around the world that Bermuda's festival is sold out and the entertainers we were fortunate to get this year we cannot get for peanuts."

A direct quote.

Sums this guy up. All hype.

Consider this:

Government paid $500,000 so that Mets fan Ewart Brown could throw out the first pitch at 2 NY Mets games ostensibly as a tourism promotion.

Yet, on the eve of Bermuda's year long celebration of our 400th anniversary this same Government and Tourism Minister couldn't find it in the bloated billion dollar budget to donate a penny to restore the Deliverance replica - a 40 year old tourist attraction and culturally significant landmark.

$500,000 for a luxury box. Nothing for a historic landmark and tourism attraction.

Kudos to the Bank of Bermuda foundation for stepping in at the last minute and donating the $300,000 to save this historic landmark.

Shame on the Bermuda Government.

In the wake of the passing of legislation for a new hotel in St. George's Vexed says he doesn't get it:

I don’t get it:

* With the disastrous terms limits policy, the PLP says there’s not enough room and forces out hundreds of expat workers who are active contributors to our economy and community thus rocking the sector that provides upward professional mobility for Bermudians and generates the most tax income for Bermuda.

* With its rapid development policy, the PLP is giving up public land and providing huge tax relief to build hundreds of new condominiums for sale to expat investors to create hospitality jobs that most Bermudians don’t want and will be staffed by low-paid expat workers.

Actually, I don’t think Government gets it either.

Well, yes and no.

Bermuda's tourism product needs refreshing and revitalising, I don't think many people (including Vexed) would disagree with that.

But as highlighted above, there is a serious disconnect in the way our low-headcount high-margin financial services industry is being treated in favour of the introduction of the complete opposite: low-margin high-headcount hotels (if you ignore the massive residential real estate sales side of this).

A new hotel in St. George's is long overdue, but I seriously question the economic viability of it. I also struggle to see where the funding is going to come from in the current anemic credit markets. The financing just isn't there.

But ultimately, I believe this (Southlands etc.) is about Ewart Brown's legacy (and ego). Every Premier wants a legacy (hence why most reach for the Independence poison chalice), and it seems to me that Ewart Brown has staked his on delivering the first new major tourism development to Bermuda in decades.

He's willing to give very generous terms away to secure this legacy.

The problem as Vexed lays out, is that staffing these mega-hotels (Southlands etc.) requires tons of low-paid staff. Bermudians won't/can't do these jobs (can't because the wages will be inadequate) so the anti-immigration Government is advocating a plan that they say will create jobs for Bermudians but will create far more for a massive influx of low-paid foreign workers while they simultaneously chase out high-earning professionals who have a far greater economic impact on Bermuda.

The other problem, or at least one of the other problems, is that this legislation appears to be a marketing tool for the developer to use to try and raise capital for the project that admittedly has none, not to put the final piece of the puzzle together.

The whole thing doesn't feel nearly as appealing once you get into the specifics and reality of the situation. It all feels very desperate, the needs of Bermuda's tourism product and St. George's notwithstanding.

There's also the problems with the length of the lease etc.. But we know that Premier Brown is concerned about headlines not details.

I'd also note, if I may show my cynical side for a moment, that the developer has 5 years to use it or lose it with this legislation.

Five years means that if this were to be yet another failure to launch at the old Club Med site, as we've seen many times with Dr. Brown's promises of a hotel in St. George's, the fallout will be pushed out post the next election.

Cynical I know.

Anyway, the optimistic side of me hopes this all works out for the benefit of St. Georgians and Bermudians, but the realist in me keeps saying "Yes but..."

I haven't focused much on the Parliamentary session tomorrow around the potential development at the old Club Med site, but Vexed has been on it well.

I would hope that the Senate blocks this after it inevitably passes the House tomorrow (the PLP have the majority).

Today's Gazette article makes it clear how big of a giveaway this is, and how little confidence we should have that the development will proceed after the Premier admitted financing isn't in place...and doesn't seem interested in that being a prerequisite to the legislative giveaway.

This legislation looks like Ministerial malpractice Dr. Brown.

If, as we're constantly told, the Premier is an individual who is results driven and demands high performance of others, why has Premier Brown not fired Dr. Brown as Tourism Minister?

Have a read of the following press release excerpted below:

WASHINGTON, Aug. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Legendary boxing
promoter-turned-entertainment promoter Rock Newman and his full service marketing, promotions and event production firm, Gibraltar Promotions, LLC, today announced that a limited number of additional tickets have been made available to American music enthusiasts for the 13th Annual Bermuda Music Festival, taking place October 1-4, 2008.

Famous in the sporting world for his management of several champions,
including guiding Riddick Bowe to the undisputed Heavyweight Championship of the World, Rock Newman is now applying his managerial prowess in the entertainment world as Executive Director of the Bermuda Music Festival.

Tasked with elevating the Festival to the next level to attract international acclaim as well as international visitors clamoring to experience world-class performers, Rock Newman tapped on his friends in the entertainment industry, and was the driving force behind securing Beyonce and Alicia Keys as this year's Headliner Performers.

"Taking on the role as Executive Producer for the Bermuda Music Festival has been the ultimate labor of love, as there won't be a bigger fan in the house than me," stated Rock Newman, Executive Producer, 2008 Bermuda Music Festival and Founder of Gibraltar Promotions, LLC. "I'm thrilled to have been successful in securing a line-up of first class talent that will allow me and many thousands to enjoy some of the best music and performers in the world!

With only a 2 hour flight from most major East Coast cities and access to these additional tickets, I hope that many more of my fellow Americans will join me in Bermuda from October 1st - 4th."

To summarise: "Me, me, me, me, me." It takes 2/3rds of the release before the Festival is really even discussed properly, and the press statement gives the promoter not the event top billing.

This release is about advertising for new concerts to promote, not promote the event he's being paid to promote.

Here's a multiple choice question.

The Bermuda Music Festival is held to:

a) Get Dr. Brown a photo with Beyonce
b) Promote Rock Newman
c) Help Rock Newman start a new company
d) All of the above

Rock Newman is cut from the same cloth as Ewart Brown: they're self-promoters.

The press releases coming from Rock Newman are notionally about the Music Festival but are first and foremost about promoting his own celebrity and business interests.

Secondly, it's hard to not conclude the Bermuda Music Festival was given to him due to his relationship with Dr. Brown, as the press release confirms that he has no concert promotion experience. In fact, it would appear that the Bermuda Music Festival is the launching pad for a new entertainment promotion firm after boxing has fizzled out.

Funnily enough, that's exactly how Dr. Brown has uses the tourism portfolio. Events are held under the guise of tourism but are primarily about promoting himself both locally and internationally; his own networking; and doling out some taxpayer dollars through the Friends and Family Plan.

Oh, and can someone answer for me how many times you can release 'additional tickets' when the majority of the original allotment is still unsold?

I'd say things aren't looking very good for this as a tourism event. But that's not a surprise because the economic case for an event of this scale has not been made.

So far it's all about entertaining and pandering to us locals, which is why it is wrapped up in such a colossal amount of marketing and political BS.

On a related note to the PLP blog's return to torture us all with it's trademark distortion and incessant spin, there is a statement (yet another Government statement not posted on the Government website but on the party's) that seeks to provide an 'update' on the North American Department of Tourism and the fired employees.

The problem? It paints a very rosy picture that doesn't at all mesh with what an employee sent me yesterday.

The email I received is published in full at the end of this post, but first read a sample of the PLP's spin which directly contradicts the immediate recount from my source:

PLP's statement:

The distributed information included details on the new structure of the overseas Tourism operation, job descriptions for the new job posts within the restructured overseas Tourism operation and information on posts currently vacant within the Ministry of Tourism and Transport.

Employee's version:

Of the 17 positions, only 4 are retained for current staff members.
Staff must apply for the other positions, some of which clearly no one now working for the Department will be qualified for, so there will certainly be more than 8 people out of work as reported. When asked to review the job descriptions for the new positons, it was discovered that the "forgot" to bring them. In addition, the positions have not yet been graded.

Were the job descriptions provided or forgotten?

The full version I received yesterday can be read below (I've left typos):

Well, today the Permanent Secretary Mrs. Cherie Whitter along with the Acting Director of Tourism Ian MacIntyre and the Head of the Civil Service once again met with the overseas staff of the Bermuda Department of Tourism. Mrs. Whitter presented an overview of the "new structure". It is certainly not as presented in the press. Of the 17 positions, only 4 are retained for current staff members.

Staff must apply for the other positions, some of which clearly no one now working for the Department will be qualified for, so there will certainly be more than 8 people out of work as reported. When asked to review the job descriptions for the new positons, it was discovered that the "forgot" to bring them. In addition, the positions have not yet been graded. The PS gave the whole presentation in a manner that was certainly unconcerned and appeared to project a feeling of "oh well." Mr. MacIntyre doesn't seem to have a clue as to whati is going on, and Mr. Dill was caught off guard and unable to a question as he spent most of the meeting reading and replying to messages on his Blackberry.

It was mentioned that there will be some opportunities for those returning to Bermuda, but these appear to be within the Tourism and Transport Ministry, not "within Government" as previously reported. Ms. Whitter advised of two positions in Tourism (which have not yet been approved and both are temporary), and a few positions in Transport......some of which are being in charge of queing up taxis for passengers for the taxi line at the airport, and traffic control at the airport.

Quite insulting...this is truly a sad day for Bermuda. This whole ordeal is so sloppy it is beyond reason.

The Gazette has a must read letter today from former Department of Tourism employee Kerry Judd who provides a devastating deconstruction of the rationale for closing the North American Tourism Office.

Of the many shifting rationales for the closure from the "Bermudians are un-trainable" to "it was an unaccountable "Wild West" office", the responsibility for a lack of sales production was laid at the employees' feet with the Premier saying that they were using an outdated model.

A few readers have emailed me to ask the obvious question which I have been remiss in highlighting: If the model was broken whose responsibility was that?

Surely not the Tourism employees, but the Minister (and senior management's). I put senior management in brackets because Kerry explains what many have long suspected: the Department has had little continuity in business model, which changes incessantly due to the revolving door of Ministers and directors.

She also makes clear that the outdated sale model that the Premier blamed is in fact his own model:

In fact in the 22 months that I was part of the BDOT team THREE different sales models were used. The first was in place when I arrived. I'm not sure when it was instituted, but I did agree at the time that it needed to be updated.

The new (and second) sales model was implemented under the leadership of then Minister Renee Webb. Less than one year later the third sales model was introduced under the new leadership of Premier Brown (then Minister of Tourism & Transport).

Ultimately there had to be someone to take the heat for the collapse of the tourism facade that the Premier constructed to boost his image as the Minister who gets things done.

The truth is that the tourism stats and 'pop and sizzle' were a sham; a carefully built PR exercise to boost the Premier's personal image, and it would appear direct portions of the Tourism and Transport budget (among other Ministries) to his friends (Consulting gigs, Music Festival promoters), family (his son's Playboy 'charity' sponsorship) and the North American social circle he aspires to (Oak Bluffs/Martha's Vineyard crowd).

The 'Tourism revival' has always been a farce to those who've ignored the glitz and glam and looked at the manipulation of numbers through gaming the timing, gaming the classification of visitors, and embedding huge cruise arrivals to skew the total tourism numbers.

It's all crumbling now because Dr. Brown's tourism strategy (if there ever was one) had no foundation and was simply a scattershot short term headline generating self-promotion exercise.

Kerry explains her conversion to believe that the privatisation of Tourism (a la the UBP's Bermudian run Tourism Authority) is the only way to go forward:

Unfortunately, I learned pretty quickly, that it didn't matter how much talent, strategic vision and capabilities existed. As long as the responsibility for promoting Bermuda comes under the direction of the Government (regardless of which political party is in place) and is under political influence our Tourism industry will never recover. With every change in Ministerial leadership, comes a change in consultant, a change in ministerial vision for Bermuda and a change in strategy (tourism had three Ministers, three consultants and two directors within a three-year period). No business model could ever sustain this.

The question is will the public fall for the latest effort at redirection and shifting the blame for Dr. Brown's failed tenure at tourism onto some easily scapegoated Bermudian employees.

Today, a press release went out with the headline of Bermuda Releases Additional Tickets for Bermuda Music Festival to U.S. Travelers.

The Bermuda Department of Tourism announced today that additional tickets to the 2008 Bermuda Music Festival have been released and are available to visitors looking to attend the highly sought after event.

Additional tickets, or the same 3,500 tickets allocated for tourists which Festival Promoter Rock Newman told The Bermuda Sun less than 3 weeks ago remained unsold a day after the Premier said it was sold out?

Spin, spin, spin. It's all just spin. (As well as a big self-indulgent plug for the Promoter):

This year's Bermuda Music Festival is being produced by Gibraltar Promotion LLC., in association with Yhoshi Productions LTD. Gibraltar Promotions is a full service marketing, promotions and event production firm headed by Rock Newman, former manager to Heavyweight Champion, Riddick Bowe. Dubbed by Jet Magazine, the "Renaissance Man," Mr. Newman is now using his experience and expertise to spearhead what promises to be Bermuda's most illustrious event in music festival history.

The reader who forwarded me the link sums it up:

Methinks foreign sales have not gone too well and they're scrambling to save face.

The economic climate in the US isn't conducive to the kind of high cost event the taxpayer is underwriting and I think the odds of this year's event going further into the red than normal are pretty good.

It's a good lineup but an American tourist can see these acts for far less money during the usual concert circuit, particularly in this economic climate.

I imagine that we'll be seeing more of the kind of ticket giveaways that Rock Newman has been doing in the US to get the numbers up so a press release with total attendance numbers can be dressed up as a big win, while the fundamental return on the taxpayer's investment will look pretty ugly.

A question for Government relating to the Department of Tourism layoffs:

If these employees were operating like "the Wild West", misusing public funds as alleged by The Bermuda Sun's anonymous source today, and are un-trainable Bermudians as declared by The Premier, what did the Minister do about it and why are they now being promised new jobs elsewhere in the Civil Service?

The Gazette today has an article which includes the text of an email the Premier sent to the Department of Tourism staff.

I received it a few days ago and meant to comment then about one paragraph in particular that struck me as particularly galling, and a not so veiled threat in what was otherwise an exercise in hasty damage control:

We stand ready to fully assist staff prepared to work with us in finding alternative jobs in the Civil Service or, if they choose, with the newly tapped company leading our sales effort. It is their professionalism that will reflect well on them in the days ahead on both fronts.

Emphasis mine. The final sentence in that quote takes a hell of a lot of nerve to write.

After being summarily dumped from your job, being called un-trainable, and even having your positions advertised on the internet for a month before Cabinet decided to inform the Bermudian employees that their jobs were being outsourced, the Premier tries to turn it around on them with the warning that "their professionalism will reflect well on them".

Their professionalism? What about his professionalism?

That line is nothing less than a threat: go along with the program quietly and we'll hook you up; go against us and you'll be hung out to dry.

I suppose that some of those rumoured Department of Tourism hefty golden handshake severance packages with mandated secrecy agreements are the pot at the end of the rainbow for being 'professional'. (I doubt those are enforceable in the public sector if they do exist).

This Government really has no class. After firing a whole team of people in the most unprofessional manner they immediately turn around to talk about the employees professionalism.

Like school in summer...no class.

Judging by the intensity of emails that I've been receiving over the weekend, this North American Department of Tourism outsourcing is not going to go away quietly.

While it's clear that this has been in the works for some time, I imagine that once staff began to leak emails to the press (as they did to The Bermuda Sun and vented in the Mid Ocean News - the latter is not online) and call out the Minister/Premier for the Friends and Family plan he's been running with taxpayer funds, the writing was on the wall. It was inevitable that the people who knew too much would have to go.

The problem now?

Those folks now have a lot less to lose.

An online petition has been launched regarding the firing of the Department of Tourism North American staff.

You can sign it here.

A reader with a background in the employment field points out the direction the North American Department of Tourism labour dispute could be heading:

Having made his bed so to speak, it will be interesting how the lawyers get on with aligning "dismissed because they couldn't be trained" with the opposing argument of "dismissed by reason of redundancy" which I assume will be the reason for the dismissal.

The two do not go together in the context of Unfair Dismissal. If they couldn't be trained, they should have been dismissed for reasons of "capability/performance".

Sift through the anger, upset and betrayal with the Department of Tourism outsourcing, and digest the core position from the PLP when it comes to Bermudians:

On Wednesday night, Dr. Brown claimed attempts at training the Bermudians had been unsuccessful. However, staff point out all this amounted to was one day in which they watched a DVD and received a book which most of them had already read called: "The Little Red Book Of Selling."

Got that. The Premier, head of the PLP, has his party now on record as saying that Bermudians are un-trainable.

Not just in need of further training, but UN-TRAINABLE. So much for the party of Bermudianisation.

This is a very perilous position for the PLP to take when they've built their recent political success on the idea (I stress idea) that they were of and for Bermudians while the UBP were not.

This example should undermine their whole political brand (a pretty powerful one recently) by stating that a group of Bermudians are completely un-trainable for an industry they've been working in for decades in some cases.

That's a shocking position when you're familiar with the rhetoric they fire at local employers for not hiring enough of our capable and qualified Bermudians and promoting them in large numbers to the senior executive levels. If I were a local employer or international company I'd have this as Exhibit A for the next time they're used as political target practice.

It's even more galling when you consider that only a couple of weeks ago the Premier quite provocatively lectured a gathering of international business leaders about valuing Bermudians and offering them opportunities in their biggest industry:

"...unless Bermudians feel their country's most lucrative industry can provide them with fair career opportunities we are in a socially dangerous space."

Dr. Brown is actually pulling back the curtain here and showing that Bermudianisation to the PLP is what many of us have always believed it to be: a hollow political slogan.

It's a concept to pay mere lip service to; an election slogan and a political prop rather than a core value and a very effective way to shift blame from successive Governments failures to properly educate and train Bermudians.

How long will people continue to allow themselves to be conned?

Here's a job posting for a NY DOT Sales Manager referred to in the NY Department of Tourism email I just posted.

Responsibilities include managing 6 person sales team from our NY office. Recruit and train sales team, conduct daily sales directions, assists in closing new business, assists in marketing, assists in generating activities including meeting and greeting potential clients.

The firm given the contract is Sales Focus Inc..

The Department of Tourism under Dr. Brown has been a deeply dysfunctional department with terribly low employee morale and high turnover as a result; it appears to be rapidly coming apart at the seams.

A couple of weeks ago we heard noises from within the department about the Dictatorial style of the Minister (and Premier) in The Mid Ocean News (not online).

Now an email is doing the rounds with news that yet another aspect of Bermuda governance is being outsourced to an American company.

Two words: Big surprise.

DR EWART BROWN SQUANDERS OVERSEAS TOURISM JOBS AT THE EXPENSE OF BERMUDIANS!

It has come to a very sad day under the PLP Government, when they announced yesterday the outsourcing of overseas tourism jobs to an American sales company.

This announcement will have a major impact on the lives of several fellow Bermudians who have lived and worked overseas for upward of 30 years, many of whom will lose their jobs. We have toiled with such dedication, selling and promoting Bermuda and this has meant a severe sacrifice to friends and family along the way. However, our island home has reaped the benefit over the years and very much recently as you have seen the upswing in visitor arrivals. Do not be fooled in thinking that this upswing has been the result of the one man Ewart Brown show!

Of course the outsourcing of the jobs to American sales company means that we are will not be eligible to apply as many of us our on restricted visa and it has been noted that the company is not obliged to hire Bermudians. The proposed company has been actively recruiting our positions since June 6th 2008, on various internet job search sites whilst we were only advised in person yesterday July 9th 2008 of this pending outsourcing. Furthermore Cabinet only approved the outsourcing of these aforementioned post on Tuesday July 8th, 2008, some four weeks after the first job vacancy appeared online. The Permanent Secretary for Tourism & Transport, Mrs Cheri Whitter has clearly stated that the proposed sales company has not been contracted by the Bermuda Governent. So tell me Bermuda, how does a overseas company list Bermuda Department of Tourism as a client and begin to recruit on their behalf if they have no signed contract?

Tourism is the second pillar of our glowing economy, and we have watched over the years how Bermudians have shied away from working in the industry. This is so much that we are actively encouraging Bermudians to return and work in the sector of our economy. Why have such programs as the David Allen Internship for young Bermudians if we are giving the tourism jobs away to overseas companies?

Let it be known that your fellow Bermudians who work overseas are professionals, highly skilled, college educated and well respected in their respective territories. When the proposed company hire their new staff, they promise training in Bermuda. Well, that means that a Bermudian will have to train a NON-BERMUDIAN on island! The PLP government is effectively saying that yes Bermudians are good enough to train a NON-BERMUDIAN for the job but in fact not good enough to do the jobs themselves.

Really, you have to ask what has become of the PLP government when they are about to disenfranchised a group of Bermudian workers without any substantive rationale..

It is suggested that the outsourcing of these jobs will save money; however at no time has there been a staff consultation on what other solutions could be had as a means of cost saving. As a talented group of individuals we could have easily made contributions on possible effective solutions. Instead Dr. Ewart Brown as Minister of Tourism, strips the livelihood of young hardworking Bermudians whilst he waste millions on such tourism events as: THE INTERNATIONAL LOVE FESTIVAL, MIAMI HEATS SPONSORSHIP, NY METS SPONSORSHIP , A SO CALLED CHARITY EVENT AT THE PLAYBOY MANSION AND THE HIGHLY CONTROVERSIAL FAITH BASED TOURISM non of which generate significant visitors to the Island. Let's not forget to mention his private jet trips, luxurious new BMW and the $500,000 personal expenses for Beyonce.

Just like you we are in the everyday struggle during this economic meltdown, and in 5 weeks time on September 1st 2008 when our jobs have been squandered away many of us will still have a family to feed, rent and mortgages to pay. It was stated recently by one of our fellow country man that "we need to take the “P” and the “L” out of PLP. There is nothing “Progressive” about it and it dare not have the audacity to associate itself with “Labour”. The last “P” should remain, because the only thing this government under this leadership is good at doing is hosting a party."

BERMUDA, how can we sit back and let such an atrocity happen?

How can we sell out our Bermuda Tourism Jobs to an overseas company?

How can we continue to say 'Feel the Love'?

How do you let your tax payers dollars pay for another lucrative contract, while your fellow BERMUDIANS become unemployed?

DID YOU EVER EXPECT THE PLP, A LABOUR GOVERNMENT TO ROB BERMUDIANS OF THEIR JOBS?

STAND WITH US BERMUDA! This not only effects us but you as well as our Mothers, Fathers, Sisters, Brothers, Nieces, Nephews, Grandparents, Friends, and Neighbors.

PLEASE FORWARD TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS & FAMILY......LET BERMUDA KNOW WHAT DR. EWART BROWN AND THE PLP GOVERNMENT ARE DOING TO BERMUDIANS.

The very late release of the first quarter's declining tourist numbers fly in direct opposition to the tone of a statement posted on the PLP's website only 3 weeks ago entitled Bermuda Tourism on Verge of Early Summer Sellout:

Bermuda Tourism will once again begin the summer in high demand with hotel occupancy figures projected at 99%.

The Newport Bermuda Race is fuelling the late June surge with an influx of visitors likely to reach 3,000.

Way to cherry pick a specific recurring event and week that would be a sellout if the Department of Tourism didn't even exist. But then there's of course the lies, damn lies and statistics cliche, as a reader points out below.

The Government spin machine is working double time right now. It's a game of trying to stay a press release ahead of the facts, and I think it's starting to fall behind.

What the summer sellout statement shows is that Bermuda tourism is in such a bad state that we can sell out with much lower arrivals; hence the Minister's reliance on the occupancy percentage versus actual number of bednights.

That press release reeks of pre-quarterly number damage control.

A reader did the heavy lifting for me on the latest tourism stats for me:

While I'll acknowledge the economic downturn as a legit reason for numbers to dwindle, the PLP's penchant for statistics manipulation is lamentable. As Kim Swan says, that these numbers are reported so late makes it hard for businesses who depend upon the tourism cycle to plan ahead. Numbers being release 3 months later serve little purpose. (I also remember the days when these numbers were reported monthly.) All in favour of controlling the message and minimizing how bad they look. Statistical manipulation #1.

As usual, cruise visitors continue to drive our tourism 'renaissance'. There really is no need to repeat that they spend significantly less than their air arrival counterparts. So patently obvious, and yet Dr. Brown continues to trot around these numbers. Statistical manipulation #2.

#3 is a particularly fun and false presentation:

The estimated visitor expenditures for the first quarter of 2008 ranged from $42.3 million to $50.7 million, with average per person expenditure ranging from $1,013 — $1,216, up from a range of $979 — $1,088 in 2007 according to the Department.

Premier Brown said: "It's encouraging to see that visitors coming to Bermuda consistently spend more when they get here..."

Lies, damn lies and statistics! as Benjamin Disraeli would say. Average spending went up?! That sounds amazing! But on closer inspection we realise that there is a very important comparative figure missing - total spending from 2007 Q1. If it's the case that less affluent travelers spend less than their more affluent counterparts while on vacation, and that the former are more likely to drop out of the equation during times of economic downturn, then of course average spending would increase! It's simple math, folks.
There 's a smaller number of less-affluent travelers to weigh the average down. Which would you rather have: 100 rich folks spending $1,000 each? Or 200 average folks spending $750? The latter leaves the economy with $50,000 more.

Without a full roster of comparative data, we just don't know how healthy the economy is doing.

And once again (statistical manipulation #4) ...

The statistics provided by the Department do not include a breakdown of how many people came for business or leisure travel, nor do they state the number of visitors arriving from the US, UK or Europe.

The Department has recently stated that it will no longer give out in-depth statistics until after the Premier's quarterly media luncheon. Previously The Royal Gazette has obtained them independently of the Premier's luncheon.

The Department said the next quarterly media luncheon will be "later this month".

'Nuff said.

Bob Richards yesterday, in his critique of the overspend that is the 2008 Bermuda Music Festival demonstrates the fundamental difference between Bermuda's two political parties:

The UBP are planners, methodical, managerial and results oriented (focused on the bottom line - total return); while the PLP is scatter shot, light on accountability and short term headline oriented (increasing the top line).

Compare and contrast:

PLP (Ewart Brown)

"I do not know that we will make a profit," he said. "It's not designed for us to make a profit. I do believe though it's [this year's festival] the best opportunity to break even in the history of the festival.

"This festival like most music festivals in the world are not designed to make a profit but they have an effect far beyond the show itself.

"This is branding. It's already known around the world that Bermuda's festival is sold out and the entertainers we were fortunate to get this year we cannot get for peanuts."

We weren't fortunate to get this years entertainers. We paid through the nose for them.

And Music Festivals in the world are not designed to lose money as Vexed points out.

UBP (Bob Richards)

"The principal objective is to develop tourism, not entertainment for Bermudians. If an economic case for Bermuda tourism development cannot be clearly demonstrated by spending millions on high-profile entertainers, it should not be something Bermuda should spend public money on."

Mr. Richards said the festival was and continued to be a great fixture on the Island calendar but added: "We believe it has gone badly off the rails as a tourism-driven business proposition.

"The festival must provide value for money. By that we mean to justify the spending of public money the festival must attract enough visitors or so enhance the island's reputation abroad that it creates evidence that increased tourism will flow from it.

"Answers to our parliamentary questions indicate the festival costs are hugely out of line with the number of visitors it is attracting and we have to ask: what has driven this Government to commit to such unprecedented spending?"

Exhibits A and B as to why Bermuda needs a free press:

Exhibit A

Yesterday the Premier was reported in The Royal Gazette as saying:

"It's already known around the world that Bermuda's festival is sold out and the entertainers we were fortunate to get this year we cannot get for peanuts."

Today, after speaking with Festival Promoter Rock Newman in The Bermuda Sun it is reported that:

Fewer than half of the 7,500 Bermuda Music Festival tickets allocated for overseas purchasers have sold, it was revealed yesterday.

You're not going to sell those extra tickets to tourists if the Premier is saying it's sold out.

Yet again we have spin replacing facts.

Exhibit B

After weeks of government claiming that they needed to buy a new fancy GP1 in the name of fiscal responsibility, by asking a few simple questions The Bermuda Sun has revealed that the costs were overstated and the problems were preventable. Which leaves the conclusion that Dr. Brown wanted us to buy him a new car.

The rationale about maintenance was a completely concocted one.

In the real world these things are known as lies.

The cartoon over at The Devil Island entitled What Really Happened is pretty good.

Mike has a future as a political cartoonist.

Personally, judging by the size of the bandage, the sling and a plastic surgeon to remove a splinter, it must have been a helluva splinter - or perhaps they actually found a missing cedar beam.

While on the tourism topic, I wanted to circle back to the issue of the sale of the Harmony Club for new Police dorms.

I didn't get into it at the time, but what caught my attention in the article was not the transaction itself, or the price which drew some comment. It was this:

Minister of Housing Senator David Burch said of the hotel's history: "The owners of the property have flirted with tourism redevelopment, an outright sale, a branded partnership style tourism development and other means of realising the potential of the site.

"Those efforts did not succeed primarily as a result of the current difficult credit market environment in the United States.

The last sentence didn't get much attention, but begs the question of how, if a small scale tourism redevelopment couldn't find financing, how some of these mega-developments such as Southlands/Morgans Point, the St. George's Club Med latest developer etc. will be able to raise the hundreds of millions of dollars (billion for Morgan's Point methinks) needed to get these projects moving forward?

Perhaps if the money is coming from, say, the Middle East then it could happen, but any tourism development seeking financing through the traditional credit markets faces a serious, serious challenge.

As one person closely connected to the international hotel developer community likes to frequently remind me, the perception of Bermuda is as follows:

1) Bermuda has the most expensive tourism product in the world;
2) the least attractive tourism product in the world and;
3) I hate to say it, I really do, but that "Bermuda has gone dirty" (hence the PR firm perhaps).

Not my words. Someone else's.

So, I can only think that the odds of these major luxury developments in St. George's, Morgan's Point, the old Golden Hind and a city hotel coming to fruition are low at best.

I'd think the city hotel is the most likely because it's geared at business travelers who have been coming in abundance and are less price sensitive than leisure travelers; and that's gone nowhere for years now.

Which is why Bermuda is crazy to be treating international business the way we treated tourists in the 80s; we took them for granted and behaved as if they'd keep coming regardless of the quality of our product and the welcome we gave them.

We know how well that worked out.

The problem is that Tourism (and most other areas) appears to be a one man show. There is no discernible policy that people can get on board with. Tourism seems to be being run for the benefit of friends and associates of the Premier.

As one very perceptive commenter over at Catch a Fire deftly summed up in response to the Playboy Premier:

This event only touches the tip of the iceberg of the mutual backscratching that goes on in Dr. Brown’s circle. The Forty Thieves’ local yacht club types have simply been replaced by the American elite of Howard University and Oak Bluffs/Martha’s Vineyard. Pretty much every major initiative undertaken by Dr. Brown has a dotted line relationship to these social aspirations.

The lack of a proper tourism policy, the over-reliance on low-spending cruise arrivals, the focus on even driven tourism, the manipulation of tourism stats and the focus on short term headlines over long term results is starting to catch up with the Premier it seems.

The website Cruise Critic has characterised the cruise ship policy change as desperation:

In a move that signals an increased sense of urgency and -- dare we say -- desperation, the government of Bermuda has passed measures that will overturn a long-held ban on the operation of cruise ship casinos and suspend a cabin tax currently levied on ships calling on the island.

As the Gazette's editorial today points out, cruise numbers have been the only thing masking the massive decline in tourists visiting Bermuda.

Well, not the only thing. Classifying huge numbers of post September 11 and post Hurricane Katrina business arrivals as tourists helped even more.

The Gazette also has a good pickup; it points out that the idea that the gambling change and contributions towards onshore entertainment such as The Music Festival were part of a reciprocal agreement:

It should come as even less as a surprise to those who watch the cruise industry carefully, because Norwegian Cruise Line's sponsorship, along with the $275,000 donation to the St. George's Foundation and the Bermudian Heritage Museum also "announced" on Friday, were already agreed to last November when NCL signed a new ten-year agreement with Government.

That flies in the face of Dr. Brown's suggestion in his statement on Friday that "in return for allowing controlled on-board revenues to occur", the major cruise lines ... are expected to participate in a number of activities and events".

This is not a quid pro quo – NCL had already agreed to these concessions, including a programme to encourage dining.

Maybe. Maybe not. Not if they were promised a change in gambling restriction after the election so as not to spoil the staged press event. Remember that the new cruise ship policy was announced during the election campaign and after Parliament had been dissolved and Ministers were in caretaker mode pending the election.

Throwing gambling into the mix during the campaign would have caused all sorts of complications for Brown's campaign (Independence too - which we now see is back on the agenda).

Another reader picks up on a different angle of the change in cruise ship policy and what it suggests about Government's aspirations for control:

Today’s announcement allowing casinos to open on cruise ships is bound to stir up debate about gambling but I question some of the financial ‘benefits’ listed by the Premier. $150k is chicken feed to these cruise lines and it appears that they are only going to be giving back money that they save by not charging cabin tax. (11 visits x 1,000 passengers x $14 equals $154k.( Note that it is only the Hamilton and St Georges ships that will be affected). The Premier is all about promoting Dockyard, guess who receives the revenue? WEDCO.

He is systematically strangling the 2 Corporations of one of their largest sources of revenue.

The government refuses to support the Corporation of Hamilton in any way other than to contribute to a new ferry terminal, so the chances of the waterfront being revamped to the tune of hundreds of millions is very unlikely to happen. I don’t know if the average punter can see what he is doing but I see it as a way of weakening the towns financially so the government can eventually step in and ‘save’ them.

A reader writes on the changes to the cruise ship policy announced on Friday:

“The Premier said ships would now be allowed to open bars and signature shops and "provide full entertainment inclusive of the opening of casinos after 10 p.m. while in port".”

I don’t see ships’ casinos as the introduction of gambling to Bermuda (which I don’t support), but what disturbs me more is the opening of ships’ bars and shops while in port, and what that means for local bars and shops. The Premier’s policy is effectively taking money spent in the local bars and shops, putting it into the ships’ bars and shops, and then taking a fat payment from the ships for his centrally funded events, enabling him to have further subsidy to make them bigger and better. The government can’t keep being the gateway for Bermuda’s tourism economy. These funds need to get directly out into the local businesses.

I actually do think that this is the soft launch of gambling to Bermuda, but the observation about central control of the tourism economy is a good one.

Anyone remember the PLP-led outrage when the UBP had their "Let Yourself Go" campaign calling for it to be withdrawn because of suggestive imagery?

My how times have changed: Photos (NSFW) here and here.

No photos of the Doc. though. Which has to be a first for our camera loving Premier. Normally he can't resist a red carpet, celebrities and a camera.

I guess we've completely Let Ourselves Go. Now the Premier goes to parties at the Playboy Mansion to dispense taxpayer goodies on his son's behalf, and his colleagues don't say a peep.

Nada. Silence.

What's wrong? Bunnies got your tongues?

Speaking of bunnies, here's a video of the event:

Of course, the fact that the Premier's son was behind the Playboy Mansion gambling night had nothing to do with the decision to be a sponsor:

"These types of sponsorships afford Bermuda an opportunity to do public good in communities around the United States while also promoting the Island as a travel destination of choice - particularly among affluent travelers.

"The Department's charitable participation of this event is beneficial to the Bermuda tourism product. The Department's affiliation with UHI has directly led to visitor arrivals, particularly for the Bermuda Music Festival and the Annual Love Festival."

Got it. This is apparently our tourism demographic: people who like to gamble and get neked in public, neither of which you can do on vacation in Bermuda.

I've got nothing against poker nights at the Playboy Mansion, but let's not pretend this was some above board tourism event please.

This is a scandal about the misuse of public funds and self-dealing, not sex and gambling - although that component does liven up the story and could finally see the public pay attention. I live in eternal hope.

Sex, money and celebrity tend to do that. Arguments about Parliamentary process aren't quite as interesting, although equally disturbing.

That the event is completely out of sync with Bermuda's tourism product simply provides further proof of the arbitrary insider decision making behind it, and perhaps an insight into what Dr. Brown has in mind for Bermuda.

How long will Bermudians ignore and therefore condone the abuses that are being perpetuated before their eyes with shocking hubris?

Here's another question raised by this event for Glenn to conjure up one of his increasingly preposterous defenses for (anyone else notice the Premier hasn't directly answered this issue, hiding behind intermediaries):

Why should Bermuda tax dollars be directed towards US charities when there are plenty of deserving charities and social needs locally?

Way to Buy Bermuda. Tax Bermuda. Buy America.

Are there no financial controls at the Department of Tourism?

The truth of course is the Tourism budget it's about profiling Dr. Brown and letting him throw around other people's money to his friends, family and those he wants to be in with.

Deep pockets, short arms as they say.

Celebrity Poker Tournament at the Playboy Mansion

The Mid Ocean today runs what could be the story that sums up everything that is wrong with our current political leadership.

The story isn't yet online [now it is here], but in short:

The Department of Tourism sponsored a charity poker event for one of Dr. Brown's sons, in the US, at the Playboy Mansion, which Dr. Brown attended, but Bermuda received no promotional displays.

Gambling, sex, misuse of public funds and nepotism.

It's got it all.

Why am I not surprised?

The serious questions of course are endless. In a real country this would result in resignations and investigations.

What was I saying just three days ago about the misuse of the Tourism budget as Dr. Brown's entertainment and miscellaneous fund?

But that's what you get when you elect someone who sees the Premiership as a step to being a hip hop mogul.

A reader writes:

They were holding out on us.... I'm feeling a bit ripped off right now because I would have rather waited and tried for better seats tomorrow instead of settling for crappy seats today.....

Indeed. He's not alone in that sentiment. I feel the same way. I'd have held off the tickets I bought to take my chances tomorrow for the 3 day passes I really wanted but weren't available.

When sections were appearing as "Sold Out" I think it created a lot of confusion rather than a more accurate description of "Presale allocation sold out".

As usual the PR launch was flawless, the execution of the event details itself, not so much.

When you stage a big media event to create a ticket frenzy, you really need to match supply with demand and have the systems capable of processing it.

The 1-888 number listed on the website didn't work for me either. First it was busy, then it just said it was an invalid number.

The following press release was just sent out:

2008 BMF TICKET SALES ADVISORY

Overwhelming demand for the 2008 Bermuda Music Festival presale has exceeded expectations, the Bermuda Department of Tourism (BDOT) announced today.

In less than five hours the dedicated allotment of local presale festival tickets available online is near capacity.

However, beginning tomorrow, Thursday, May 22nd, a new allotment of tickets will be made available online and at designated ticket locations across the Island. These tickets will represent a cross-section of the seating categories for all four nights of the 2008 Bermuda Music Festival.

Furthermore, the BDOT announced, that to accommodate our overseas visitors who are interested in travelling to Bermuda for the Music Festival, the Department has set aside a special allotment of tickets and will work with designated overseas vendors to facilitate the sale of those tickets.

Based on the level of incredible excitement exhibited over the past 24 hours, the new allotment of tickets being released tomorrow is likely to sell quickly.

In order to satisfy the overwhelming demand, the public should be advised that on-island ticket locations will open early tomorrow from 6.00 a.m. until 5.00 p.m. Tickets for visitors and residents will be available.

As a reminder, the on-island ticket locations are as follows:

Fairmont Southampton
Fairmont Hamilton Princess
Café Latte, St. George’s

After today’s presale, tickets can also be purchased for as long as they are available online at www.bermudamusicfestival.com.

Entertainment schedule and ticket prices for the 2008 Bermuda Music Festival are as follows:

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

The Whispers

The Fairmont Southampton Beach Club – General Admission Ticket

Gates Open 6:00pm Show Time 6:30pm

$60.00 General Admission Ticket

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Lyfe Jennigs, Solange Knowles, Beyonce

National Sports Centre – Reserved Seating

Gates Open 6:00pm Show Time 7:00pm

Gold Seating $125.00

Silver Seating $100.00

Bronze Seating $75.00

Friday, October 3, 2008

Collie Buddz, UB40

National Sports Centre – Reserved Seating

Gates Open 6:00pm Show Time 7:00pm

Gold Seating $125.00

Silver Seating $100.00

Bronze Seating $75.00

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Aaron Neville, Alicia Keys

National Sports Centre – Reserved Seating

Gates Open 6:00pm Show Time 7:00pm

Gold Seating $125.00

Silver Seating $100.00

Bronze Seating $75.00

_________________________________

Nea N. Talbot

Public Affairs Officer (MLHA&H, MOF and MoT&T)

Department of Communication & Information

Bermuda Government

Global House

43 Church Street

Hamilton HM 12

BERMUDA

ntalbot@gov.bm

www.gov.bm

www.citv.gov.bm

1 (441) 294-2779

If I may rant for a second.

The website for the Music Festival is a complete disaster. I've been getting tons of emails.

After much wrestling with it it would appear that there are no multi-day tickets available (or occassionally it offers you some way at the back), the front section tickets are $1,000 each if the section isn't already sold out, Beyonce is almost totally sold out (sorry tourists), Alicia Keys is almost sold out (sorry again tourists), UB40 and Collie Buddz (spelled wrong on the site) is the only show with some availability.

Maybe the sections listed as 'sold out' are blocked for general sale tomorrow to tourists. I don't know. But if that's the case I think people would have happily waited until tomorrow rather than buy seats in sections they didn't want just because they were the only ones available.

What a mess.

As a clarification, I can confirm definitively that Bermuda Music Festival tickets are on sale tomorrow morning to all Bermuda residents, not just 'Bermudians' as the press release stated.

Well, the blockbuster lineup for the 2008 Music Festival was announced today after great hype and pop and sizzle:

"Bermuda Regiment soldiers are standing guard over the highly sought-after list of performers until the official announcement is made Tuesday."

Let's get the obvious out of the way, it's a great lineup. I'll be there most nights as I have almost every year after I worked on the very first JazFest the year I graduated from University.

However (there's always a however)...I'm going to be the killjoy for a minute if I may.

For years now I have been asking us to admit that this event is not a tourism event in any real sense (see here, here and here), and this was confirmed with the announcement today that "Bermudians" (residents or Bermudians? I'm not sure) will have a 24 hour head start over tourists to buy tickets.

Got that? Tickets to our marquee tourism event go on sale to tourists a day after locals clean it out.

So, on the upside, at least we've dispensed with the pretense that the event is aimed at tourists.

Now, this brings me to my longstanding complaint about the way the Department of Tourism is being used by Dr. Brown since he took it over.

The Tourism budget is increasingly being used to entertain locals (Music Festival, Movies on the Beach), market and networking for Dr. Brown himself (Mets promotion, Miami Heat promotion) and throw parties (The Love Festival, THE Foundation) for the Premier and his friends, those he wants to be his friends and those he wants to pander to (Faith Based Tourism).

As it stands now, taxpayers are basically throwing themselves a big expensive party, but paying full ticket price to watch... and if a few tourists make it then that's a bonus.

Maybe it's just me, but I don't believe it's the job of Governments to throw concerts once a year. And with this year's lineup the event must now be massively more expensive.

But back to the Music Festival, I can't believe that the event is anywhere close to breaking even, and I don't recall seeing any study on the economic value of it to our economy.

After 10-plus years of running this event it should now be standing on its own and self-sustaining, but I don't think it is, or even remotely close to it.

Sure, Bermuda needs events like these, but if our promotions aren't geared at the right audience then they're not serving their purpose. And surely the idea of taxpayers underwriting these events is to spur a broader economic gain for the island, but I'm not sure that's the case.

I'd love to see some numbers put out on how many tourists it attracts, what they spend while on island, how much money goes out to the overseas promoters/artists. I bet the number will blow people's minds.

But, it does make for a great political headline, an annual feel good event, and a chance for the politicians to schmooze and be photographed with the beautiful people.

Just in case anyone was confused by today's Gazette headline, the "TB" in "Waterloo House hit by TB scare" isn't referring to Tony Brannon, but Tuberculosis.

I'm not sure which is more dangerous.

Classic typo in a Gazette's front page headline today (just corrected online):

"Bavarian Int. to build hotel at Club Med"

The Bavarians? Really.

The rest of the article gets it right...."Bazarian".

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."

A reader writes on the media's continuing acceptance of chronically distorted and cherry picked tourism numbers at face value:

I have to laugh at the media for reprinting Dr Brown's claims of record tourism numbers - he's actually using 2001 (as in the year of September 11) as his comparison point. And as Vexed Bermoothes points out, he's stuffed the numbers with a very high proportion of cruise arrivals.

When will they learn?

With today's not particularly surprising hike in taxi fares and other benefits for an industry which has been ignored and outwardly abused for the complete duration of Dr. Brown's time as Transport Minister, I suppose I could start up my "Signs an election is imminent" shtick again (more on that issue in a future post).

I'm sure they knew this sop would come, but I imagine they'd have appreciated it if it had occurred before the summer tourism months ended, and not immediately after the busy period for the Music Festival and PGA Grand Slam.

Thanks for nothing I guess. A fare weather friend indeed.

Lionel Richie killed it last night at the Music Festival. Absolutely brilliant performance.

Two suggestions though:

1) Triple the size of the bar, add 5 times as many staff
2) Switch a few of the fish stalls for a Coco Puff vendor

A reader picks up on an interesting but overlooked item of the Premier's Washington DC speech:

"We are underway with some of the most recognisable and luxurious brands in the hotel industry - Ritz Carlton, Inter-Continental, and St. Regis are on the list."

Inter-Continental??? That's new to me....

I think so too. I don't recall any announcements about an Intercontinental Hotel and I can't find any references online anywhere.

Did they let something slip?

A reader writes on the Minister who isn't delivering tourists:

Premier Brown said: "Some media have put a newfound emphasis on separating certain kinds of visitors, which is perfectly fine. However we want the public to know the Bermuda Department of Tourism caters to all kinds of visitors because we don't mind who comes to our shores, as long as they are filling our hotels and restaurants and taxis."

So why is Andre Curtis being paid to scare away gay tourists…?

You've got to give it to them, the PLP are much better at the language game than the UBP.

Latest example, caught hiding a tourism decline in aggregated business and tourism air arrival stats (not to mention the cruise ship impact), the PLP takes the glass half full approach and declares on their website that:

"Business Tourism Booms"

Clever. Nice redirect.

The UBP's David Dodwell gets the substantive point right though:

"Business visitors, by any definition, are not tourists. Their activities and spending patterns are different from those of tourists, and their arrival has nothing to do with Bermuda Tourism's marketing or promotional efforts.

"Yes, these visitors stay in hotels, go to restaurants, use taxis and play golf, but that is not the reason they are coming — they are here for business.

"The real question is are we getting value for money, for the 36 million tourism budget that we spend to attract probably 100,000 first time air arrival leisure visitors?"

And finally, beginning today, the Government today announced that Finance Minister Paula Cox will announce air arrival statistics.

Finally today, the Royal Gazette confirms what I and others have been saying for months, and months, and months:

Long withheld detailed air arrival statistics show definitively that the number of air arriving tourists is down, and that the heavily touted tourism renaissance under Dr. Brown has been business travelers.

What a shock. It's been obvious that air arrivals have been reported instead of tourist arrivals to mask the Minister's failed tourism strategy.

I'm just not sure why the Gazette chose to give relatively low play to it on the front page, while they've played right along with big lead headlines based on the misinformation they've been fed every quarter for years now.

Sad to see that someone defaced the 13th green at the Mid Ocean Club in advance of the PGA Grand Slam.

However, in today's RG story, they identify the letters singed into the green as "qlq" which would appear to mean very little.

It seems far more likely that the letters were the mirror image of that, instead reading "plp".

Why? I don't know. But the vandalism occurred on Wednesday night, which was the day that it was announced that Tiger Woods had opted out. So one would presume that "plp" is what it meant to read, not "qlq". An angry fan? An overzealous party supporter? A plain old idiot? Who knows.

I would point out that there was a caption in my weekend Caption Competition which read:

I'm really sorry about the 13.th, Tiger
sid v
Posted by sid v at September 15, 2007 08:28 AM

I didn't understand it at the time. I didn't recall it when someone mentioned to me on Sunday evening that the green might have been damaged.

Oh well. Let's hope they can minimize the damage.

One of the ferries in Dockyard smashed into the dock very hard around noon today.

Many people appear to have suffered injuries, including what I'm told are likely broken bones and cuts. The fire service and ambulances are taking the injured for treatment.

From what I was told by someone on the ferry, the boat struck the dock while docking and people were thrown out of their seats.

Not sure what the cause was, but the person I spoke with said that they heard that the ferries engines didn't shift into reverse to slow down at docking.

A reader calls it correctly, about Tiger Woods withdrawal from the PGA Grand Slam:

I guess this is one RG article the PLP site might overlook linking to.

Indeed. 24 hours and counting.

Tonight's clip on ZBM News (I'll post it to YouTube is I can find my video camera's plug) of UBP Leader Michael Dunkley having a grip n grin yesterday at a PGA event in Atlanta with none other than Tiger Woods (and Jim Furyk and Padraig Harrington by the way) is surely classified as cruel and unusual punishment.

We all know that the Premier threw millions of taxpayer dollars to get that photo-op himself (and a round of golf), and on the day that it's announced Tiger has declined to attend, Michael gets the money shot.

Damn, that's cold.

The Gazette runs with the headline this morning of "Tiger Pulls Out".

The way I see it, the reason he can't participate this year is because he didn't pull out.

Baddam bum.

And the PGA has the formal announcement:

Jim Furyk will take part in the 2007 Grand Slam of Golf at the Mid Ocean Club in Bermuda. Furyk will take the spot of PGA Champion Tiger Woods, who withdrew citing the need to spend time with is family. Furyk has competed in two PGA Grand Slams of Golf before, winning in 2003 and finishing as runner up in 2006.

Fran Tucker, one of the local organisers of the PGA Grand Slam sent out an email today at 4PM (which rapidly made its way to me) that Tiger Woods has declined to participate in this years grand slam.

Hi everyone,

We've just received the Official word from the PGA that Tiger is unable to join us for our Grand Slam. Apparently, it's been a very tough year for him with his new personal commitments.

So, Jim Furyk is lined up to come, and we are confident this will be a great event, for Bermuda and for all of us. I'm sure you were all holding out hope that Tiger would come (I sure was!), but once we get over the shock, we will move on and continue with all the plans.

Take care, and I'm sure I'll be in touch soon.

Fran Tucker
Corporate Sales & Hospitality Chair
PGA Grand Slam
294-7926

I swear that I heard ZBM reporting last night that he was coming.

I do believe that the appropriate defence, for this offence, is quite simple:

"Your honour, we were simply feeling the love; a little Pop and Sizzle."

Then, I'd play the Bermuda tourism TV ad where a woman in a coffee shop recounts her steamy vacation exploits with her husband on a Bermuda beach, lurid details obscured by the loud sound of a milk steamer machine.

"I rest my case your honour."

A reader nails it:

You might like this passage from Hebrews in the Good Book which Mr Curtis seems to take (too) literally:

"Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen": Hebrews 11:1

How apt for his programme of so-called faith-based tourism!

The game of catch me if you can (psst - you've been caught) with the Premier's Right Hand Man and Faith Based Tourism scammer Andre Curtis continues.

As I pointed out a couple of days ago, a reader got confirmation from Ce Ce Winans' company that she was not scheduled to perform in Bermuda as the Bermuda Department of Tourism said, and today, the DOT website appears to have confirmed that this event was fabricated as it has removed the link to"Gospel Concert CeCe Winans along with Local Artists" from the Faith Based Events main page header...although the page itself hasn't been deleted, it still exists - for now - here.

Don't fear. I've saved a copy of the page itself as well. I have faith that that will be deleted soon enough, but a resurrection seems appropriate.

Very interesting.

Someone over at (ahem, I can't say these words out loud) "Bermuda S#cks" has picked up on a little inconsistency for the CeCe Winans Faith Based tourism event. The date (Dec. 07, 2007) the Bermuda Department of Tourism says she's in Bermuda, her website says she's in Georgia:

12/7/07 8:00 PM Word of Faith Family Outreach Altanta, GA Georgia International Convention Center 770-874-8400

A last minute cancellation perhaps? They're really winging this thing aren't they. Throw whatever you can together as quickly as you can now that it's all unraveling, cross your fingers (or get down on your knees) and hope for the best.

The more he speaks, the more it unravels.

Today's gem from the Andre Curtis Faith Based Tourism debacle is this:

Referring to the planned events, Mr. Curtis said: "I want Bermuda to come out and enjoy. I'm offering a service and it's my prayer that they come out. I can't make tourists come out. I think they (the events' speakers) are good people and they speak well."

Obvious question alert: Why is the Department of Tourism spending money on events for "Bermuda to come out and enjoy"? That ain't tourism, other than for the west-enders who don't like to leave the country or the east enders who don't like to cross the bridge.

Check out the description of the belatedly announced events on the Department's website - the ones that have any details are geared to Bermudians not tourists:

Amalgamated Services of Bermuda Churches

A multi-denominational Faith-Based approach to declare the solidarity of the Kingdom of God for the betterment of Bermuda as a whole. This year's theme for the 2nd annual event is "That we would be one". Mission: This is a God given, non-partisan vehicle, designed to amalgamate all believers in God, to infiltrate, and to impact all strata of our society with the Kingdom of God:

* Unifying through corporate prayer and worship;
* Raising and maintaining the standards of God in the land;
* Surrounding the leadership of this nation with the spiritual support, covering and guidance, on continual bases.

A Nation At Risk "Raising The Standard for the Next Generation"

CITY OF REFUGEE MINISTRIES is hosting this Conference of Cultural and Spiritual awakening for the community. Mission: To engage the Nation of Bermuda, in examining its present and future risks which has the ability to erode Bermuda's global integrity. Featuring renowned speakers from across North America and being held @ the Fairmont Hamilton Princess. Join us for the open service Wednesday, October 31, 2007 @ 7:00 p.m.

Taking it to the Next Level

The AME Churches of Bermuda presents "Taking it to the Next Level" Crusade on the Rock. Featuring Dr. Jamal Harrison Bryant to be held at the Fairmont Southampton.

Gospel Concert CeCe Winans along with Local Artists

Bermuda Faith-Based Tourism is hosting two evenings of live performances by Bermudian Artists and the awesome talent of CeCe Winans. Come and be uplifted and get your Praise on. Show times are at 7:00 p.m. each evening @ the Fairmont Southampton.

Sort of like my desire to know how many tourists attend the Music Festival versus locals and how much the Department spends on the event? Do we spend more than we generate in tourism dollars? I think we just might.

If we're honest, the Music Festival is the Department of Tourism entertaining locals, and if a few tourists come along then so be it. I wrote about this almost a year ago to the day, when the Department of Tourism announced Movies on the Beach.

But back to these faith based events. This requires more than faith, it needs blind faith. This is a total debacle. This has nothing to do with tourism. I think Wayne Furbert has it half right in pegging this as a taxpayer funded thank you to the Premier's campaign manager.

He's missing the fact that it's also a misuse of the tourism budget to court the church vote.

A reader cc'd me on this letter to the editor to the Gazette. It's not been published yet but it's well worth a read:

I read with disgust the articles in the Royal Gazette on the topic of faith-based tourism. I am disgusted not because of the desire to attract "faith based" groups to Bermuda -- although I have serious doubts about the wisdom of government (vs. a private sector funded promotion which would cause me no concerns) catering to this particular segment of potential visitors while neglecting others (recall the apathetic attitude the government exhibited when the R Family Vacations cruise of a couple thousand people canceled its visit to Bermuda).

I am disgusted because of the flagrant mismanagement of tax dollars which is revealed by the story. It doesn't take a mathematical genius to take a $400,000 fee and divide by the required 2,200 visitors to equal $181.82 per visitor cost for the promotion if in fact it proves to successfully attract the number of visitors required by the agreement.

I have referred to Matthew Taylor's March 20th article in the Gazette "UBP: we are not getting value for Tourism money" which indicates that Bermuda Tourism was spending $62.97 per visitor to attract non-cruise visitors to the island compared to competing tourist destinations listed that spent between $9.35 and $22 per visitor. If Bermuda is already attracting visitors to Bermuda at a cost of less than $63 per head, then I'm at a loss to understand why the Ministry of Tourism wants to increase its marketing spend per head nearly 3-fold to $181 in order to attract a couple thousand tourists from a specific segment.

Is it because those willing to travel to "faith based" events are fabulously wealthy and likely to repeatedly patronize Bermuda's pricey $600 per night hotels or upscale restaurants, and perhaps do some shopping in town to pick up a Prada bag at Lusso or a $20k watch at Crisson? If so, then perhaps a higher marketing cost per head would be justified to attract clientele most suitable to the product Bermuda has to offer. However, I highly doubt that is the case here.

Instead, we get a pricey marketing initiative with questionable economic justification and an apparent unwillingness of government to provide a good explanation as to why the faith based tourism initiative is a good deal for the taxpayers of Bermuda.

While I'm willing to initially give both Mr. Curtis and Dr. Brown the benefit of the doubt and assume that Mr. Curtis was aware the FBT contract for legitimate reasons and not as a political pay-back, the resulting implication is that there may be incompetence in the Ministry of Tourism such that they are unable to make sound fiscal and economic judgments about how to effectively spend tax dollars.

It is an insult to the taxpayers of Bermuda if government thinks that it need not respond to legitimate questions such as the ones recently raised by Wayne Furbert regarding the FBT initiative because the taxpayers aren't clever enough to do the math and realize that all of us should be screaming for the answers Mr. Furbert has requested.

I applaud Mr. Furbert for his efforts as a watchdog for the public purse and hope he persists with his efforts and is joined by his colleagues responsible for critiquing government's tourism and financial activities until such time as the Ministry of Tourism provides the information and answers we all deserve.

Jason Benevides
Paget

Well said.

I just watched the excruciatingly bizarre damage control no plantation questions press conference from Andre Curtis over Faith Based Accounting. I didn't feel convinced, nor did Mr. Curtis. What a strange event that was.

It seems a few others weren't convinced either:

The media's coverage of Andre Curtis and "pay to pray" is overaccepting, although many Bermudians seem to understand that this is a political handout. The list of events he provided seems to have been drummed up just for the media. If the goal is to attract at least 2,000 tourists to Bermuda, surely some of these should be marketed in advance. There's no mention of any of them on the web never mind on the Dept of Tourism website. Funny also how the November event is called "Taking It To The Next Level". This, of course, was Doc Brown's slogan in the manifesto he released during his PLP takeover. Stay tuned for "Solid as the Rock (of Deliverance)" and "All the Way (for Jesus)".

and

So how does a potential tourist sign up for one of these events... I can't seem to find anything on the internet? Seems if Mr Curtis wants to be open and transparent that some marketing materials that he produced might be useful, or maybe some venue details... Surely if something is going to be held in less than 2 months there would be some concrete evidence of that...

Scary scene at Harbour Nights about 45 minutes ago.

About 5 minutes after the Gombeys began to perform at the flagpole there were screams coming from further down Front Street, towards the bird cage.

I turned around and saw two white horses pulling a carriage, with no driver in it, bolting at full pace towards the 5 or 6 row deep crowd, backs turned, of which I was at the back with my family and brother's family.

While some people (including us) were able to get out of the way, others were trapped in the crowd, oblivious to what was about to happen as the horses and carriage crashed into the crowd, adjacent to the stage. A number of people were trapped beneath the horses and the carriage.

The crowd got together to lift the carriage up, and get people underneath out as quickly as they could while securing the horses. There were a number of injuries, some cuts and head wounds and some that appeared potentially more severe.

Emergency services were there quickly with the centre area being cordoned off for what appeared to be about 5-10 more seriously injured people. Hopefully these won't turn out to be too severe and everyone will recover. Let's hope.

It was a very scary moment, but the emergency services, off-duty nurses, police officers and those in attendance responded quickly.

A sad start to what was looking like a great kick-off to Harbour Nights.

Denis Pitcher over at 21 Square follows up on my post of last night with his own take on the misinformation at the core of the latest "tourism" statistics.

Money quote:

We're told that the numbers speak for themselves. Well here are the numbers according to the number of times the following words appear in the first quarter statistics.

Arrival: Occurs 19 times

Visitor: Occurs 16 times

Tourist: Occurs 0 times.

Remember those definitions above?

I'll belive [sic] it's been a banner quarter when you can tell me in statistics that include non-bermudian, bermudian, resident, non-resident, business, pleasure and hopefully how much is approximated to have been contributed to the economy by each group. Until then, these numbers mean nothing to me.

Now, if only the mainstream press would ask the right questions, rather than printing completely incorrect headlines like "Tourist arrivals jump 22.9% over 2006".

No they didn't. Cruise and air arrivals did. Tourists? Who knows?

Over to you The Royal Gazette. VSB. ZBM. Bermuda Sun. Ok, not the Bermuda Sun.

It's all been teed up for you. Take a swing.

I didn't see it myself, but I was told that Rosie O'Donnell talked about the canceling of the Bermuda leg for R Family Cruises today on her talk show The View.

My understanding is that she made it clear that she said they made the decision not to come based on threats of protests and while not outwardly hostile to the island, she was obviously quite negative about us to an audience of millions.

Just what we need.

UPDATE: Here is a summary of the segement from the website "Watching the View" (which for the record I don't, except for tips on hair products and weight loss).

Rosie brought up how the R Family Cruise ship will not be going to Bermuda this summer, as I previously reported. She said that there were expected to be 80 churches protesting the ship’s arrival and they were worried about security and the effect the protests would have on the children. She said that people have canceled their cruise because of the removal of the stop.

...they can bend it all they want.

I'm sure tourism numbers are up. And I'm glad that we seem to be making some gains. But if we're honest, once you get past cruise passengers (which is like shooting fish in a barrel), the question is "by how much?".

Reporting air arrivals as tourists is highly misleading - intentionally I believe - and produces a relatively useless number for measuring tourism as a product.

When I see a headline like today's "Tourist arrivals jump 22.9% in 2006", my reaction is: Really?

How many are business travelers - clients, brokers, consultants, boards or otherwise? How many are these commuters who work in Bermuda Monday to Friday and fly home for the weekends. How many are people waiting for work permits who have to fly in and out every couple of weeks?

A material amount methinks.

I ask not just because I'm a cynic (which I can be), not because I want tourism to fail (which I don't), but because when I see big moves in the 4th quarter for example, a period which isn't historically a busy tourism season for Bermuda, I think of the peak annual insurance/reinsurance renewal period.

I'd estimate that somewhere around 2/3rds of reinsurance policies worldwide renew on January 1 every year...I know, because I work my butt off from October through the New Year and then up until July.

And what am I doing during the last 3 months of the year? Meeting with contingents of clients and brokers, almost all of them from overseas. With so many new reinsurance and insurance companies in Bermuda post Hurricane Katrina, there has been a HUGE volume of corporate visitors to Bermuda. HUGE.

I see more of some US and UK brokers in Bermuda than I do Bermudians. And that isn't an exaggeration. Today I met with 10 brokers and clients from overseas with two companies, tomorrow I'll meet with another 6-8 from two companies. Add those up over 12 weeks in the busiest time of year and you've got a lot of business travelers the Minister is calling "tourists".

Shouldn't we report pure tourist numbers?

The Department of Tourism must have this information; arrivals forms break down the purpose of your visit into business, conference, vacation, visiting family and friends etc.. So why are we releasing this very broad number which is not, despite the headlines, "tourists".

What we really need to know if we are to measure the effectiveness of the Tourism strategy, is how many pure tourists do they attract with their $40M annual budget. Cruise companies do their own advertising, so they should be isolated from the budget. Remove business travelers. Remove people visiting family. Remove commuters. Remove all the noise.

Let's see the true tourism numbers so that we can decide if things are as rosy as we're told. Because I'm willing to place a bet that reality is a lot less sexy than a 22.9% increase in tourists.

So while the taxpayers are paying for a swanky luncheon every quarter for over 200 people at the Fairmont Southampton to be wooed, oohed and aahed by the Premier, the actual raw numbers are nowhere to be found because the report doesn't get released.

When they own the information they can bend it all they want.

And let's not forget, with all the PR hoopla, that we're only back at levels from the year 2000.

The devil is in the details. So let's see the details. We're smart enough. We can handle it.

I don't think it will be all bad, but it won't be nearly as good as we're being told. The raw numbers will paint a very different picture than the one that gets portrayed from the Fairmont Southampton teleprompter every quarter.

While walking past the empty Trimingham's construction site today, a friend noticed 6-8 flyers which had been glued to the wooden walkway attacking Dr. Brown for a number of things, but mostly his support of the planned cruise to Bermuda by R Family Cruises.

I suppose we shouldn't be surprised at the rhetoric and venom that can be seen on the fragments of the one remaining flyer; but while I believe Dr. Brown is correct in supporting this cruise, he lost any moral high ground on this by:

a)sitting silent in Parliament (with others) during the sexual orientation amendment

b) shamelessly pandered to the homophobic constituency in his PLP leadership challenge in his vision speech:

"I firmly believe in the right of all and any individuals to be free from discrimination in any form. However, I would not support the proposed Human Rights Amendment. I do not believe that there is a need for special protection of persons in Bermuda based on their sexual orientation. I personally know of many individuals who have reached the pinnacles of Bermudian society who have stated their preference for members of their same sex. There is no evidence that this divisive amendment is necessary for Bermuda at this time."

c) and by standing front and center alongside then-Premier Alex Scott at the United by Faith rally in October 2006, which was solely an anti-gay and lesbian event in response to the proposed Human Rights amendment.

I also find it noteworthy that one of the spokespersons against the cruise, Mr. Andre Curtis, is a former Dr. Brown appointed head of the Tourism Board and now chairman of the Faith-Based tourism.

This could get quite messy, and not just politically.

Since the news of the R Family Vacations gay and lesbian family cruise to Bermuda broke, I've been waiting patiently for Dr. Brown to apply the same standard to the AME church that he did to opponents to Southlands.

So Dr. Brown, when are you going to tell the 9,000 strong AME church congregation that they're "un-Bermudian" for opposing a tourism initiative?

Or is that a constituency you'd rather not offend with an election looming?

In fact, if the Doc really wanted to boost tourism numbers he'd be focusing on the high-earning gay and lesbian demographic. Instead of hiring GlobalHue as the marketing consultant we should be hiring GlobalChromosome.

I say, welcome to Bermuda, R Family Vacations.

A reader, and lawyer, chimes in on the implications of the opposition to the Southlands development by senior civil servants in the Ministry of the Environment and the Department of Conservation:

This morning's news that both the Department of Planning's and the Department of Environmental Protection's officers have opined that the Southlands development is undesirable and not in the best interests of Bermuda may turn out to be quite a thorn in Government's side.

The Premier, who has been swanning around with the developers and generally treated like royalty has repeatedly talked publicly in terms that suggest that the development will simply be rubber-stamped. The civil servants' reports to the Minister on behalf of their respective departments could be just what the objectors need to hang their hats on to launch a legal challenge, however. Although the Minister has a discretion to approve the development, either by way of the normal planning process (on appeal from a rejection by the DAB) or by way of an SDO, administrative law dictates that her discretion is fettered by the proviso that he decision be reasonable.

In a legal context, 'reasonable' has a specific meaning - a decision is unreasonable if it is such that no Minister could have reasonably come to it. It's a high standard for objectors to meet, to be sure, but when you consider that the only information that the Minister has to rely on is that supplied by government officers, who are clearly opposed to the development, there is certainly a reasonable argument to be made that any approval of the development would be perverse and, therefore, unreasonable in a legal sense. What this space - this could end up being very, very sticky for Government and put them in a tight corner...........

Doug DeCouto has posted some photos of the planning documents and mapped out the footprint in Google Earth.

The resident Marxist over at Limey Land, Jonathon Starling, found a promotional video for the proposed Southlands development.

The video reveals the true extent of the development. It's a pretty well put together promo-spot, but what I couldn't help but notice is that they are selling the development on the beauty of the land, but then have designs for a massive beachfront glass and concrete structure which will eliminate any of that natural beauty.

This issue is a complex one.

I am very concerned on a larger scale, about the overheating of the construction industry, if all of these 5 developments were to come to fruition simultaneously, and that's not to even mention a (budgeted) 3/4 of a billion dollar hospital replacement and a new causeway, the economy, wages, rents etc. would skyrocket.

So that's one concern, which is broader than this specific development.

I'm also concerned about the increased use of Special Development Orders to circumvent planning laws. While the inefficiency of the planning department is an issue, SDO's aren't the solution. The solution is streamlining the planning process while enforcing the existing regulations. If the PLP Government feels that the current zoning laws need to be amended, then do that legislatively and engage the public on it, but don't just sidestep it all with SDOs.

Now, with respect to the specific developments and SDOs:

I'm less concerned about the request for an SDO with the proposed city hotel, to facilitate a higher structure, as that will be built in an urban area which is already built up.

I am however concerned that the Southlands development essentially proposes to concrete in a massive area of protected woodland. I certainly have no problem with the developers developing their land, as is their right to achieve a return on their investment (and help improve our tourism product), however it should be done under current zoning laws, the laws that applied when the property was purchased.

The loss of open space is a loss, that is indisputable. And while I do like the idea of Government purchasing the property as a park/nature reserve (as proposed by the UBP), I think that is unlikley.

Blocking development is also unappealing, as that essentially nationalises private property, which I can't support.

But it seems to me that a hotel can be developed on site which is much more integrated with the surrounding environment, and doesn't tear to shreds and fill with concrete a very scenic and environmentally sensitive stretch of South Shore.

And finally, I feel compelled to point out the hypocrisy of allowing the Southside (and other) developers to build homes for sales to foreigners, after this Government retroactively removed the right of Bermudians with eligible high-end properties to sell to non-Bermudians - dramatically devaluing their asset over night.

The Royal Gazette today reports that a company owned by Brian Duperreault, former CEO of ACE Limited, and his wife Nancy, are among the principals behind the proposed hotel development and razing of Southlands.

Although the article doesn't get into it, this new information shines the spotlight back on the problems with the Premier and his wife's unregistered charity, the T.H.E. Foundation.

Mr. and Mrs. Duperreault are listed as "Ruby Donors" on the T.H.E. invitation.

Therein lies the problem.

If you have millions invested in a piece of land, which you want to develop into a new hotel, and the Deputy (and aspiring) Premier/Tourism Minister or his proxy (aka his wife) calls looking for donations for their pet project, what do you do?

How can you say no?

And after you give $25,000 what might you hope for in return? A Special Development Order perhaps? And will the Premier ensure they get an SDO in exchange for supporting the T.H.E. event?

The conflicts of interest behind T.H.E. are rampant, and growing. They don't even have to exist to be a problem; the potential for conflicts is enough.

The perception of selling favours is there whether you want to deny it or not, or invoke technicalities or not. And that compromises the integrity of all sides.

When political fundraising targets people/business with specific needs from Government you put them in an impossible position.

Individuals/businesses working on projects which require Government approval will find it virtually impossible to say no when the Deputy Premier and head of a Ministry they need something from comes calling for a small donation (relative to their other investment).

And the Premier and his colleagues, when considering requests for an SDO for example, or allocation of Government contracts, will inevitably have in the backs of their minds who has been a financial supporter, either of T.H.E., or the Premier's Gala Weekend or another PR event.

This is precisely why the fund-raising engaged in by the Premier (and his wife) raises legitimate questions of selling favours, pay to play, or whatever you want to call it.

This is why we need proper campaign finance reform.

This is why we need proper disclosure in politics.

This is why we need charities to be registered.

This is why we need politicians who don't push the boundaries of ethical behaviour.

This is why the Bermudian public needs to shake off its apathy.

What happens when you have a Government that does nothing for 8 years, and a new Premier who wants non-stop headlines for a few months before he calls an election?

1) Special Development Orders proliferate and make a mockery of planning laws, public consultation and oversight.

2) Four potential major hotel developments are promised for virtually simultaneous development, which will overheat the construction industry and potentially the whole economy.

3) Every job at these new hotels will be additive to the economy. For example, the proposed city hotel at Par-la-ville is expected to create 330 jobs. Those are new jobs. That's 330 new homes, cars, school places etc.. And that's just one development.

This is what happens when you have a Government in hurry up mode after almost a decade of neglect.

The public need to apply the brakes, and demand that development be managed properly and in the interests of Bermuda and Bermudians, not corporations.

I've never felt like much of an environmentalist, but I'm starting to now.

That isn't colonial. That's sensible.

The Mid Ocean News today essentially withdraws, under threat of legal action, it's story last week entitled 'AG allowed wife of Premier to by-pass charity regulations'.

I think the whole focus of the story on Mr. Mussenden was a distraction and not the core issue. The core issue is simple: What is the legal status of T.H.E.?

That remains an unanswered question after former Attorney General Larry Mussenden's response today (not yet online); what was the opinion of the AG's chambers was and what is the legal status of T.H.E.?

That's the question. Larry Mussenden's role is secondary.

If T.H.E. isn't a registered charity - which one must assume is the case or we'd have heard otherwise as it would have diffused this whole controversy - what is it? A business?

A lawyer friend suggested it may be an unincorporated association, which is a collection of people apparently.

But my understanding of the charitable regulations, as described recently to me by a lawyer, is that unless you are a registered charity it is illegal to solicit funds as a charity, and the invitation which T.H.E. sent out describes itself as follows:

This event is being produced under the auspices of T.H.E. FOUNDATION, a charitable organisation whose purpose is to raise money to help offset the price of certain costly Tourism activities. Net proceeds of this event will be used to help offset the costs of production of the 2006 Bermuda Music Festival.

The emphasis is mine.

That's the question, notwithstanding Dr. Brown's original comments on this back in October when he made a point of saying T.H.E. didn't represent itself as a registered charity but a 'charitable organisation':

"You should know that in no instance has THE Foundation claimed that it is a registered charity. They have said that the organisation is a "charitable organisation" and that is accurate.

Semantics. Using the term 'charitable organisation' implies that it is legitimate and registered.

Today's retraction by the Mid Ocean News doesn't change anything.

The question remains: Did T.H.E. break the law by soliciting funds as a charity?

And there's more, such as: If T.H.E. raised $400,000 as has been suggested, and turned over $110,000 to the Bermuda Music Festival, where did the other $290,000 go?

Talk me through this one:

The unregistered charity Tourism Helps Everyone (or is it Tourism Helps Ewart) Foundation secures $400,000 in funding in a questionable manner, but only $110,000 clears expenses?

I have a very good friend who is a fundraiser, and I was talking to him recently about a charitable idea I had and asked what type of expenses were reasonable. His response? A good rule of thumb is that no more than 30% should be spent in overhead.

With the T.H.E. Foundation you've got the reverse, with expenses around 72%.

And you wonder why people are asking questions?

The Royal Gazette carries the PGA Grand Slam story today:

However, sources at both the PGA of America and Mid Ocean have told The Royal Gazette that Bermuda has now been given the thumbs up – although Government is prevented from making the news public until next week because of a contractual agreement with the PGA of America. So excited was Dr. Brown at the prospect of making the announcement that he almost gave the game away at a public meeting held at Penno’s Wharf in St. George’s on Wednesday night.

Urging the media and the general public to adopt a more positive outlook on the state of their country, he said: “Next week I am going to make an announcement – I can’t sleep at the moment because I want to make the announcement now but I am under contract and I cannot do it. But it’s an announcement that will make all of you proud to be Bermudians.

“And when it’s announced, you are going to go back and remember headlines that essentially said that it was not happening, that it was not going to happen, that I was jumping the gun, that it’s nothing but politics. When we make the announcement, it will show that this is not the case.”

My favourite bit? Dr. Brown saying he didn't jump the gun...but that the PGA now has him contractually obligated to keep his mouth shut until next week, a feat he still couldn't really manage.

Sweet.

So, a reliable source informs me that the announcement "that will make all of you proud to be Bermudians" and will disprove the negative headlines which Premier Brown alluded to at Thursday night's meeting in St. George's is that the PGA Grand Slam of Golf will be confirmed for moving to Bermuda next year, despite the Premier's shameless premature headline grabbing which could have put it in jeopardy.

If it happens as I expect it will be a good announcement, and one that we'll all welcome. But 'proud to be Bermudians'?

Please, we've had these things before Dr. Brown, although you may have been in California at the time. Back then it was the Gillette shoot-out in the 90s which was also the Merrill Lynch event one year, although I can't recall the exact details.

So good news? Yes. Something that will improve national pride? No.

A reader agrees, and chimes in with another example revealing the problem with providing a 3 year average for the revenue guarantee loads that Dr. Brown continues to withhold from the public:

"The average effect over 3 years can be very distorting. For example the payments could be 100K in year 1 and 2, and over 1M in year 3 and you'd still get an ave of 400K."

Here we go again. Dr. Brown sends out Airport Manager Jim Howes to selectively respond to calls for openness about tourism numbers:

Focusing on the crucial factor of reviving air arrival visitors to rejuvenate the Island’s hotel and hospitality sectors, Dr. Brown said: “Perhaps the most unfortunate aspect of the recent rumour mill surrounding tourism policy has been blog-fed, opposition-embraced fiction that the increase of air service to Bermuda has come through some extortionate, secret deal involving untold cash. I regret to advise the conspiracy theorists that nothing could be further from the truth.”

He invited Bermuda International Airport General Manager Jim Howes to explain the facts about incentives such as short-term waivers of airport landing fees, advertising support and revenue guarantee agreements as airlines expand into new routes.

The Tourism Minister and latest PLP Premier shoves out the airport manager to do his bidding, while not at all addressing the bulk of the criticism, which has never been about "the increase of air service to Bermuda has come through some extortionate, secret deal involving untold cash" but about the details of taxpayer subsidies of the airlines.

Extortionate secret deals of untold cash? Not quite, but nice try. Thats' classic Dr. Brown spin to paint reasonable requests for information as conspiracy theories.

The press release from the Airport Manger is very narrowly focused and fails to address a number of other criticisms that I laid out in a Royal Gazette column a few weeks back.

I wasn't just looking for info on the revenue guarantees, but also "tourist arrivals" not the much broader "air arrivals" which would seem to include the many many business travelers and local arrivals.

I also am interested in a full accounting of the Bermuda Music Festival, and also the apparently illegal charity Dr. Brown and "First Lady Wanda" set up around it this year.

But let's look at the press release from Mr. Howes.

The release ends with this statement on revenue guarantees:

"But, on an overall basis, we can report that the total revenue guarantee payouts by Bermuda Int'l Airport have averaged less than $400 Thousand per year since 2003."

Averages can be misleading and not all that informative. How's about the Government break it down? That $400,000 could be 0,0 and 1,200,000 over three years for all we know.

The rest of the press release focuses primarily on JetBlue and the Miami American flight.

We always knew that JetBlue's subsidies came in the form of 'marketing assistance' and other incentives (landing fee waivers etc.). Let's put some meat around those numbers shall we.

And as for the Miami flight, I don't doubt that it hasn't triggered the revenue guarantee payouts....because it's full of locals.

Again, this is more smoke, mirrors and spin. We're looking for information to evaluate the state of the tourism industry not the airline industry.

The information provided sheds very little light on the situation, and leaves as many questions unanswered as it sort of answers.

Scratch one off the Dr. Brown got it done list.

But here's the kicker:

"Confusingly, Premier Ewart Brown claimed the media had been informed of the latest twist in the Club Med more than six weeks ago, yet the Royal Gazette has never received such notification and no other news outlet on the Island is known to have carried the story until it was confirmed by him yesterday lunchtime."

and

"A request by the Royal Gazette for proof that Government previously made public the collapse of the KJA deal has, as yet, not met with a response."

Hmmm. This happened six weeks ago but the press weren't notified, although Dr. Brown claims they were.

What was going on six weeks ago? Could it have been the early days of Dr. Brown's leadership challenge to then Premier Alex Scott as the "Minister who gets things done."

So no announcement that one of his great accomplishments fell through, but an announcement about an 'accomplishment' that wasn't - and still isn't - done.

If Dr. Brown wants to be Premier he's going to have to show a little more respect for our intelligence, and commitment to the truth, than he did today.

Responding to UBP MP Michael Dunkley's accusation of political grandstanding - Gasp, it can't be true - by Dr. Brown on the last day of his tenure at tourism, Dr. Brown said the following:

"The announcement formed part of his “normal pattern” of updating the public on things going on within the Department, he said, and had nothing to do with his leadership aspirations.

“Mr. Dunkley is entitled to his opinion – but all I was interested in when I was the Minister was informing the public of the work we had been doing,” he said.

Informing the public of the work he had been doing? Here's a few things I'd like to be informed about:

* Why did Four Seasons get summarily dismissed from the Club Med project to be replaced by the elusive and secretive KJA Development?

* What are the details of the load guarantees and incentives that you have provided to the airlines in exchange for new routes?

* What is the ratio of residents to tourists on the new flights? (Baltimore, Miami in particular)

* What was the total cost of the Bermuda Music Festival?

Come on Dr. Brown. You weren't informing the public, your were headline grabbing. Your plan was obvious: you wanted to resign your portfolio on a high note (I'm bringing Tiger Woods to Bermuda) and then, with that good press, have a headline the next day that the guy who's bringing you Tiger Woods wants to be your Premier.

It's not that hard to see through.

Look at the past couple of weeks, but the last week in particular. We've been treated to a series of highly staged managed leaks and press events by the Deputy Premier, culminating in his announcement that he was running for Premier:

* Sept 29th - Dr. Brown starts his campaign for Premier with a chest-beating blame diverting speech on his government's (terrible) record on empowerment.

* Oct. 11th - a clearly orchestrated 'leak' declares Dr. Brown's intention to challenge Alex Scott for PLP Leader (and Premier).

* Oct. 11th (same day as Brown to challenge Scott leak hits the press) - Dr. Brown surprises the Mid Ocean Club with a hasty press conference prematurely declaring that the PGA Grand Slam will be held in Bermuda (although nothing's signed).

* Oct. 12th (same day the PGA Golf grabs a big headline) - Dr. Brown officially declares that he is running for PLP Leader/Premier.

Bada bing, bada boom. What a good 3 day run of press for Dr. Brown. I don't begrudge his manipulation of the compliant press, who rarely seem to ask him the tough questions and never persist when he obstructs them).

It's insulting frankly for him to try and convince us that his motives were pure and altruistic in prematurely announcing the still unsigned PGA Grand Slam event.

I also couldn't help but notice the insincerity in distancing himself now if things fall through as a result of his media whoring:

However, Brown said yesterday he had been assured by the Department’s sports tourism consultant Roddy Carr – who works for sports management giant IMG and is the man behind the two-year-old mission to bring a major golf event to Bermuda – that negotiations were progressing to a positive conclusion.

Translation: If it falls through don't blame me, balme the consultant.

and

"Now if I was still working in the Department I would be able to give you the complete and up-to-date information, but as far as I am concerned and through my conversations with Roddy Carr, I’m certain it’s all-but sealed."

Translation: I wish I could shed even more light on the event but I'm no longer the Minister - aka Blame Burch if it doesn't transpire.

Way to lead Mr. Minister. Is this how we can expect a Premier Brown to operate:

Step 1: charge to the mic to take credit for anything and everything (even prematurely).
Step 2: once things come under a little scrutiny make it clear that you weren't the one calling the shots and had delegated it to someone else.
Step 3: when the inevitable criticism comes, throw your hands in the air and say you're simply unable to take any further responsibility - unless it does come off of course when you'll be gripping and grinning with Tiger Woods (if he qualifies) for the local press.

Could Dr. Brown's headline grabbing stunt with the PGA Grand Slam event have shown Bermuda's hand too early?

Maybe not, but his media whoring to prematurely grab a headline the day before his leadership challenge announcement might come back to bite him/us.

"Sassada said Poipu Bay has also been in negotiations with the PGA of America, and though nothing has been finalized, the contract for next month’s event wasn’t signed until early this year.

“Obviously we are not hoping we have to go through that,” he said.

History would indicate they won’t.

Sassada said Poipu Bay’s relationship with the PGA has always been good, evinced by the fact that the tournament — originally designed to move from course to course each year — hasn’t budged in 13 years.

Wednesday's PR stunt was typical Brown and exactly why he's unsuitable as Premier: he always puts his own self-interest before Bermuda's. Always.

No announcement about the PGA Grand Slam should have been made until the signatures were down.

The Mid Ocean Club has sent out a letter to its members announcing that they will be hosting the PGA Grand Slam of Golf (strokeplay tournament of the winners of the 4 major PGA tournaments).

Note that Government (aka Department of Tourism, aka Dr. Brown who wants some positive PR before his leadership challenge) appears to be charging out of the gate with the announcement before the host club was quite ready.

Dear Member,

I am writing to inform you that Government intend to announce today that the PGA Grand Slam of Golf will come to Bermuda in 2007 and that they and the PGA ‘ are in final stages of negotiation with Mid Ocean ‘. That is exactly the situation – we have an agreed contract wording and were waiting for final signatures before we came to you with the news, but the proposed Government release, which was made known to us yesterday, has somewhat changed our timetable for us!

Much more detail will follow later – and I must caution that until all the contracts are executed this is still not 100% - but after talking to the President we thought you should, if possible, hear about it from us first.

We have been working on this for some three months and, whilst we know there will be some challenges along the way, are really excited at bringing this event to Mid Ocean. The event has the support of the Board and we think this is a brilliant opportunity to showcase Bermuda to a large audience and we wanted to join with Government, who are providing the funding, and the Fairmont Southampton, who are also a sponsor, in making it happen.

The PGA Grand Slam is a two day stroke-play tournament between the four Major winners of the year, and up to now has been held in Hawaii with this years event being held in November. The playing days in 2007 are scheduled for October 16th and 17th with a pro-am on the 15th and possibly an outing for the PGA Tour sponsors on the 18th. Both the PGA and Mid Ocean have an option to stage the event in 2008 if the other party is agreeable. Members will gain free admission to the event.

Again, a lot more on this later as I know you will have many questions on course closures, course length and layout etc. As soon as we have an Agreement signed and sealed I will send out a follow-up which will hopefully address all the issues we are likely to face, so please hold your questions till that time – it shouldn’t be long.

Best wishes,

David Ezekiel, Vice President and Men’s Captain

As the saying goes, if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

Below is the text of the UBP's press release yesterday (received by me this morning) on the apparent change in reporting methodology/manipulation of tourism stats this quarter, as reported in today's Mid Ocean News:

A Statement from United Bermuda Party MPs Dr. Grant Gibbons and David Dodwell

Press reports and Government claims of recovery in the tourism industry are based on factual errors, spin and the undisclosed manipulation of statistics.

Media reports this week that tourist spending jumped $40 million during the second quarter of the year – from April to June – are not supported by figures supplied by Government’s Department of Statistics, which only shows a $25.1 million increase.

And Government claims of recovery were brought into further doubt by errors and questionable figures in the Quarterly Bulletin of Statistics (Second Quarter 2006), including:

* A reported 52% jump in cruise ship visitor spending during the second quarter. The jump was really 25% based on the numbers provided; and

* An astounding $36.8 million jump in air visitor spending in the second quarter on accommodation and food to $102.7 million in 2006 from $65.9 million in 2005.

The statistics bulletin deepens ongoing questions about the role of spin and deception in relation to the Government’s claims of recovery.

We are especially concerned by the Government’s recent expansion of the definition of tourism spending, which now apparently includes new factors such as spending by the crews of cruise ships.

These changes were made without an official announcement and can be seen as a manipulation to pump up the numbers.

There is nothing wrong with changing methodology in the gathering of statistics, but it is essential that changes be disclosed and explained to the public so that people can adjust their interpretation of the numbers.

As far as we can determine, there was a change in the method of calculating tourism statistics some time in 2005.[1] The Department of Statistics subsequently revised spending figures back to 2004 but not beyond, where the revised numbers now show end-of-year spending in 2004 to be $31 million more than before.

The change in calculation muddies reality, making it difficult for people to gauge the health of the industry. Everything is made to look better on paper but not necessarily in reality. In terms of the statistics released this week, people have no way knowing how much visitor spending increases are real or how much they are based on the recalculation of numbers.

We are also concerned by the Government’s ongoing focus on spin as evidenced in this week’s bulletin of statistics. There is a fondness for upbeat, inflated words such as “robust” and “boom” to describe tourism’s performance, and a disposition to accentuate the positive.

The United Bermuda Party believes the public should be given the most accurate picture of the tourism industry, if only because the truth will enable people to make more informed choices about the way ahead.

The United Bermuda Party welcomes any improvement in the performance of the tourism industry. Increases in visitor spending mean that our retailers, taxi drivers, restaurateurs, boat operators and hoteliers do better. But we want to be very clear that the increases in spending from April and June this year – whatever they were – came to them like a cup of water to a man dying of thirst.

The fact is that in the five completed years since 2001, Bermuda’s tourism industry registered the worst year-to-year performance since the start of mass tourism in 1960s. The positive results that the Government wants to fix in people’s minds come from a place where there is virtually nowhere to go but up.

It is also important to note that the latest figures are driven by the Government’s unprecedented reliance on cruise ship visitors, whose numbers distract from the fact that our hotel industry is a shadow of its former self.

Most Bermudians understand that cruise visitors – now accounting for over half the visitors to the Island – do not create the level of economic activity that air visitors do. Industry measures indicate that you need nine cruise ship passengers to equal the spending of one hotel visitor.

The reliance on cruise passengers to turn around the tourism picture is worrying because the Government’s main focus should be on creating conditions for hotels to succeed and air arrivals to improve. In that vein we applaud the expansion of air service connections and some movement to lower fares, but much more work needs to be done with more honest communication with the public.

_{[1] We note that the new methodology has been acknowledged today by the Department of Statistics as a result of our questions and is to be found in a footnote in a revised bulletin released this afternoon.}

This press release and poster was forwarded to me today from the Department of Tourism. It sounds like fun, but I'd question whether we have a Department of Tourism or the Department of Local Entertainment (as the Music Festival seems to have become increasingly centred around locals.)

For Immediate Release August 7, 2006

Movies on the Beach Film Line-Up Announced

First-ever event on Warwick Long Bay, August 17-20, features top films on four consecutive nights

The Bermuda International Film Festival is pleased to announce the film line-up for the first-ever Movies on the Beach event at Warwick Long Bay, August 17-20.

The event is presented by the Bermuda Department of Tourism. BIFF is assisting Tourism with the presentation of the event, and has arranged the film line-up.

The films will be projected on a screen measuring 18 feet by 48 feet. Projection will be handled by Starlight Screenings, an American organisation that handles the same duties for screenings by the Disney studio.

“I am delighted with the film line-up, and looking forward with anticipation to a first for Bermuda – watching the stars under the stars,” says the Hon. Dr. Ewart Brown, Minister of Tourism and Transportation. “This is an event that both locals and visitors will enjoy.”

The four nights of films on the beach will kick off on Thursday August 17 with a screening of House of Flying Daggers, the archetypal action film that won 13 awards when it was released in 2004, including the Best Foreign Film award from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. It also won three cinematography awards, and was nominated for 33 other awards, including an Academy Award for cinematography.
The film takes place during the reign of the Tang dynasty in China. A secret organisation called "The House of the Flying Daggers" rises and opposes the government. A police officer called Leo sends officer Jin to investigate a young dancer named Mei, claiming that she has ties to the "Flying Daggers". Leo arrests Mei, only to have Jin breaking her free in a plot to gain her trust and lead the police to the new leader of the secret organisation. But things are far more complicated than they seem...
On Friday August 18, we will screen Nanny McPhee, the 2005 family film starring Emma Thompson, Colin Firth and Kelly Macdonald. Ms. Thompson stars as a governess who uses magic to rein in the behaviour of seven ne’er-do-well children in her charge. The film was a hit at the box office in the United States, doing more than $47 million in business.

On Saturday, August 19, see the history of the blues in one night in the concert film, Lighning in a Bottle. Beginning with a stirring African folk song (Zélié performed by Angélique Kidjo) the roots are established and rapidly swell into a trunk thickened by the hardships of the Great Depression (Gamblin' Man performed by David `Honeyboy' Edwards) and the oppression of segregation (Jim Crow Blues performed by Odetta). Finally, this Blues family tree shows off vibrant new growth as it reveals the Blues' influence on our modern wealth of talented musicians (Midnight Special performed by John Fogerty and Hound Dog done by Macy Gray). Ruth Brown gives Blll Cosby a full-throttle serenade (and a playful smoldering gaze), along with Mavis Staples and Natalie Cole. Angélique Kidjo persuades Buddy Guy to an unforgettable rendition of `Voodoo Child,' shortly before Bonnie Raitt and Robert Cray accompany B.B. King and Lucille for the final number, `Paying the Cost to be the Boss.'

On Sunday August 20, Movies on the Beach wraps up with a screening of the well-loved romantic comedy, Moonstruck, by acclaimed director Norman Jewison. Nicholas Cage, Cher, Olympia Dukakis and Vincent Gardenia star in a film that won 15 awards, including three Academy Awards. Cher won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance as a widowed Brooklyn book-keeper who is torn between her fiancée (Danny Aiello) and his brother (Mr. Cage). Ms. Dukakis won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. The film was also nominated for Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Mr. Gardenia).

Films start at 8.30 p.m. on all four nights. Admission is free, and food and drink will be available. Film watchers are advised to bring a chair or blanket to sit on.

On Saturday, after the film, unité productions is hosting an after-party from 10.30 p.m. onwards with wine, beer, special cocktails and chill-out music under the stars. The organisation is best-known for its Pink, Red and White parties.

On Sunday, before the film, unité productions is hosting a pre-party from 7 p.m. onwards with wine, beer, and special cocktails on the beach before the sun goes down.

Rumour has it that about half of the World Cup winning Italian football team checked into Grotto Bay last night.

Free food on Bermudiana Rd anyone?

I suspect that David Burch was piloting the cruise ship which ran aground this morning, intentionally beaching it in an effort to change the news cycle.

If it wasn't Burch, I'm sure he'll be quick to point out that either the Governor, the Auditor, the UBP or expats are to blame.

I've been waiting for the Gazette to post a story from Tuesday on their website. But alas, it hasn't happened. Their website is a mess right now from both a design and content perspective.

So, on that basis, I'll shoot this one without being able to link to the story.

I couldn't help but be amused at the Dr. Brown's crowing about our new 'floating hotel', which he'll no doubt be adding to his little list of new hotel inventory.

For those of us who live in the real world, and not fantasy island, a floating hotel is more commonly referred to as a boat, or in this case a small motor yacht.

The idea here being to rent out (or in marine terms 'charter') rooms overnight for divers and others who want to cruise the waters of Bermuda, and elsewhere.

A good business venture? Time will tell. A "Floating hotel"? Not quite.

Here's what a lobbyist like Alcade & Fay can do for you:

Essentially, these parties are a way of saying thank you," said Jennefer Hirshberg, a partner of Alcade & Fay, a lobbying firm that bankrolled an event for the Virginia Republican Party on Wednesday night. Guests were treated to jumbo cocktail shrimp and lobster claws, crispy egg rolls and baked desserts beneath movie props such as model planes from "Top Gun."

"It's all part of the networking and relationship building that lobbying firms in Richmond and at the federal level do," she said.

Business, Pleasure, or Both?

Here's another good one from someone seeking reform:

Public interest groups and campaign finance reform advocates say conventions give businesses the most lobbying bang for their buck. "I'd say there's no better setting than a presidential convention for showing big donors the kind of access money buys," said Common Cause/Maryland's James Browning. "A convention gives donors a chance to lobby under the radar, which is to say, beyond the reach of . . . Maryland's lobbyist ethics law."

Sounds right up Dr. Ewart "7 star hotel" Brown's alley.

All in the public interest of course:

Speaking to us from the hotel, where the cheapest suite costs $1,000 a night, Dr. Brown said he knows some people expect him to stay in “Holiday Inns” when he’s away on business and those same people will probably have a go at him for staying in the Burj, but he makes no apologies.

He said: “I wanted to stay in the hotel and see and experience it for myself. Now when we’re talking about standards I can refer people to those at the Burj.”

Welcome to Dr. Brown's America...er I mean Bermuda: lavish trips and lobbyists. Pay to play.

A reader comments:

"An observation: this may be the first time that a developer has used a big-dollar lobbying firm to handle their relationship with the Bermuda Government."

The reader is probably correct and is referring to the announcement regarding the latest potential development of Morgan's Point.

Here's the reference to the lobbyist:

"A team from the consortium has been in Bermuda during the past year assessing the potential of the site said Andrew Wahlquist, of Virginia-based government and public affairs consultants Alcade & Fay, which has issued preliminary details of the proposal on behalf of Clark International."

"Public affairs consultant" is the polite term for lobbyist, a largely American creation best-known for smoozing legislators and throwing lots of perks their way in exchange for massive Government contracts.

This is a bad sign. It could be the forerunner of the importation of a trend that has resulted in massive corruption and influence peddling in the US political system. (Washington DC has a whole street, K Street, full of lobbyists, which triggered the Republican strategy known as the K Street Project where former political figures and their aides exit public life only to come back in the revolving door as a lobbyist for huge fees.)

If potential developers feel that the way to get things done in Bermuda is through lobbyists we're on a very slippery slope.

The Bermuda Government, as well as some of our international companies, do retain lobbyists in Washington, but this is the first concrete example I know of where we're on the receiving end.

Interesting comments from Dr. Brown to the BIU delegates conference on their declining work ethic. So interesting in fact that they felt really familiar...because they were.

I said much the same in a Royal Gazette column published on Jan. 11th, 2005 entitled: "We mustn't let the BIU's work ethic sink us all", a headline which pretty much sums up the message that Dr. Brown delivered on Wednesday, 13 months later.

Some of you might recall that my comments were greeted with a ferocious counterattack by the BIU's Laverne Furbert.

So I'll be waiting patiently (ok, maybe not) for Ms. Furbert to respond in kind to the affirmation of my comments by 'one of her favourite politicians', Dr. Brown.

I've been reliably informed that the whole message of this morning's message board on East Broadway was "EXPECT DELAYS, ROAD WORKS ON SUNDAY". Which is even funnier, because the message itself was so delayed I only saw the first bit....and I was on a mountain bike, riding against a 30-40 knot headwind.

After years of anticipation the JetBlue deal seems to be reaching fruition, which is obviously good news for both locals and tourists alike.

It'll be interesting to see what happens to the fares on that NY route. It's pretty well served already between Continental and American with a number of flights daily, so we'll have to see what happens when a lower cost carrier is thrown into the mix.

Tourism Minister Brown may be overplaying the announcement of JetBlue and Spirit a little when he says:

"It is my belief that in 2006 we will eliminate high airfares as a barrier."

One of my concerns is that the expectations around JetBlue's impact have been raised to such levels, and that the politicians are looking to get such mileage out of it, that there's an expectation that the airline will single handedly resurrect tourism.

There's much more to turning around tourism than that. But more and cheaper flights is a big part of it.

Ridiculous statement of the week goes to Tourism Minister Dr. Brown for this this gem in responding to a hotel developer's warning that the PLP Government's cavalier behaviour to tourism development is scaring away potential investors:

"If this fellow is not interested there are plenty of others lining up to come here."

Riiigghhhttt.

For years we've been told that all these dormant sites are about to take off, predictably nothing has come of it. And now we have the Government abusing major hotel developers, including marquee groups like Four Seasons.

The PLP's behaviour around tourism development is not just ineffective, it is surely turning off future investors as was warned in today's Gazette. But the Minister doesn't want to hear it.

I can cite, off the top of my head, three high profile and important developments whose developers were suddenly and without explanation kicked to the curb.

There's Morgan's Point, a project that was moving along under the UBP before the 1998 election and was suddenly stopped by the PLP when they took office. What's happening there now? Nothing. They're parking mobile homes on the perimeter.

Then there's the South Shore development that Bermudian Rammy Smith was far down the road on, to the tune of several million dollars, before he was suddenly advised that the site had been sold to another developer, and that Cabinet was privy to this.

And now we've got the 20 year dormant Club Med site which had a developer identified, but to be suddenly and without explanation turfed off the project. The Minister won't say why...not even to the investors he sent packing. He won't say who the new developer is.

That is unacceptable. There has been no significant development* since the PLP took office in 1998, and with the way they're acting the prospects are becoming more remote every day.

This behaviour won't just damage tourism development. It will cast doubt over the whole island as a business friendly and attractive jurisdiction for investment. But the impact on tourism development will be most severe. Hotels require a huge capital investment while reinsurance does not. Investors require stability, not unpredictability.

Dr. Brown is not unintelligent. It's his ethics that we should worry about. His role in deposing Jennifer Smith, the as yet unresolved pay to play scandal and his sale of a property to the BHC for example are testament to his lack of ethics.

What is he not telling us? We're entitled to know.

* CORRECTION: The original post has been corrected. The statement "There has been no development since the PLP took office in 1998..." was incorrect and has been amended to "There has been no significant development since the PLP took office in 1998...."

Any guesses as to how much the first quarter air arrivals will be down this year? The loss of 536 arrivals for race weekend alone will have a huge impact.

...the 1,000-plus fields that have flocked to Bermuda's shores for the past five years will be absent while overseas competitors – the perfect January boost for the tourism industry – are down from 683 to a paltry 147.

But I bet we'll be told it's the hoteliers' fault and nothing at all to do with the local organisation.

Last night I had a great time at the Bermuda Music Festival in Dockyard. As someone who worked on the first ever "Jazzfest" 10 years ago at the National Stadium I love the event, although I'm not deluded enough to buy into the idea that it is a 'tourism' event.

It ain't. The Music Festival, like most Department of Tourism sponsored events (including the upcoming Culinary Arts Festival, Harbour Nights, World Rugby Classic etc.), is completely supported by locals with a few tourists sprinkled throughout. If we're honest, the Department of Tourism is really the Department of Local Entertainment and Travel.

Nonetheless, I enjoy myself every year, and last night was no exception, except for one exception that is.

First the good: Joss Stone put on a great set and Al Green proved himself worthy of his reputation, the organisation seemed pretty good, and a few new touches like the local stage and the food courtyard worked well. (I won't get into the luxury skyboxes at the back of the seating area for VIPs and PLPs.)

But....one thing during the evening really summed up what is wrong with tourism in Bermuda.

Shortly into Joss Stone's set a small crowd developed (including me) in the gap between the base of the stage and the first row - as has been the case for a number of years now.

You'd think people dancing and interacting with the artist on stage (who was clearly pleased with the energy and interaction) was the whole point right? Evidently not.

In typical Bermuda fashion the Fun Police appeared, flashing their lights in people's faces and directing them back to their seats to sit down. If that doesn't sum up our problem with tourism nothing does.

Bermuda puts on a music festival, where presumably people come to enjoy good music, yet as soon as they start enjoying themselves they're directed back to their seats to sit quietly. Amazing. I thought I was at a concert not music appreciation class.

As the night went on people came back for Joss Stone's encore and Al Green entire set, but I must admit it left a bad taste in my mouth.

When will we loosen up?

Schizophrenic? You decide.

The Bermuda Independence Commission (BIC) report, which all of the commissioners signed off on, states that:

"...the tourism sector appears to have stabilized and may even be improving."

Yet today in a Mid Oceans News article entitled "Tourism report shows huge decline in room bookings" (not yet online), President of the Bermuda Hotel Association (BHA), and coincidentally a BIC Commissioner, Mike Winfield (who I hear was a major writer of the BIC report) states that:

"August should be one of our strongest months. Seventy-nine per cent last year was not acceptable and 70 percent this year is even less acceptable."

Doesn't sound like either stabilization or improvement to me. Which one is it Mr. Winfield?

Reading today's Royal Gazette article on the schools' concerns about the 'Pop By' campaign, I was struck by how defensive the Minister was; most bizarre and paranoid was his accusation that the schools were engaging in a "deliberate campaign of destruction".

And then, as if by magic I received an email from a good and very reliable friend, shedding some light on Dr. Brown's reaction.

Apparently, this whole 'Pop By' thing, which is about as dumb an idea to come from the Department of Tourism (DoT) as any, came from the Minister, in it's entirety: ginger beer, flags, slogan etc..

So the DoT went out to some ad agencies, informing them that this initiative came personally from the Minister and all that was needed was design services, no feedback/conceptual work, just implementation. Word has it the reception to the idea was chilly, that it was generally thought to be dumb and poorly thought through, and that they didn't want any part of it.

Which would explain the Minister's paranoid and inappropriately defensively aggressive reaction in the media, demonizing the schools, whose responsibility is to their students, not to act as agents for the DoT.

Which all makes sense really. This campaign reeks of Dr. Brown's shallow, gimicky, Americanized marketing approach to everything; not to mention the local politicking and incessant self-promotion all his 'campaigns' are infused with.

So far we've been treated to ugly bus shelters, a lick of paint turning Court St. into New Orleans, stupid flags, pink golf tees and not very good online golf games, rather than a focus on improving the product.

Sound familiar? It should. It's just a more extreme version of the PLP's 'we can market our way out of this' strategy for tourism.

Ahh, if only Dr. Brown had as much success raising money from international companies as he does his pension fund 'friends' in the US.

The chilly reception which has greeted the Tourism Minister's request for the international companies to guarantee profits to airlines perpetually on the verge of bankruptcy can't be all that much of a surprise can it?

But let's get the not-so-subtle threat out of the way first, before discussing the attractiveness of this proposal.

He termed the effort an example of "good corporate citizenship" rather than a form of indirect taxation on international companies. "That's like comparing the opening up of an abscess to major medical surgery," he said. "This is just the same old partnership we're always talking about."

On the surface this might sound innocent enough, which is the intention, but the use of the phrase "good corporate citizenship" is a direct threat.

"Good corporate citizens" is the PLP's code word for work permit renewal and key employee exemption. That's not really a good starting point to entice businesses in for a 'partnership' is it. That type of passive aggressive behaviour is characteristic of this Government.

But moving past the typical PLP Government's intimidation, the question is why would the international companies funding airline guarantees?

For starters, the PLP have always looked at international business as a bottomless money pit to fund their misadventures. This is just another example, after former Tourism Minister David Allen attempted to have the industry finance a grand tourism headquarters (a self-serving idea Dr. Brown has hinted at resurrecting).

Businesses are not charities, although they do give heavily of their own accord, and they're certainly not around to be called on whenever Government doesn't want to pay for their programs.

Then there is of course the fact that Bermuda's businesses actually know how to make money, unlike the airline industry. The primary obligation of our international businesses is to its shareholders, not politicians, and certainly not propping up money-losing businesses. What would their shareholders think knowing that an insurance company was donating money to an airline they already pay exhorbitantly high fares to on a regular basis.

International business is already propping up the Bermuda airline routes. Take away the business travelers, who pay the much higher no-restriction first/business class fares and half of these flights would go away tomorrow.

But is this initiative for the new Miami route even going to help tourism? I doubt it. That Miami flight might do ok, but it'll be because of the locals not tourists. How many tourists are coming in from Miami? It's not exactly in the northeast, our real target market. I'm not against setting up flights for locals, we like to vacation too, but let's not pretend it's the saviour for tourism.

Which of course then begs the question of why the international companies should subsidise people's vacations. Which also raises the question of what guarantee the airlines have given in return to maintain reasonable fares?

But setting all that aside, $3M isn't a huge amount of money out of the Bermuda Budget. It's less than 0.5 of one percent. And wasn't it this tourism minister who was puffing out his chest during the budget debate about not needing any additional funding for 2005?

And of course, we can't forget Berkeley, the poster-child for Government fiscal waste. Over $70M additional dollars will being spent entirely unnecessarily there, not even considering the inevitable legal settlement with Pro-Active.

How many airline guarantees could the Government have offered with that? Hell, you might be able to buy one of those bankrupt airlines for $70M.

We could have taken that money and bought 140,000 tickets (assuming $500 each) to hand out for free on the streets of NY. That would certainly have put it to better use that the current plan to pour it into a building that should have been built for half the cost.

And finally, just one question:

If Tourism can't afford $3M for airline revenue guarantees, how do we propose to fund the infrastructure, both domestic and foreign, of an independent Bermuda?

Port Royal Golf Club, 16th Tee, BERMUDA - Golf and Spa season blew into Bermuda with hurricane force today, delighting golfers and Tourism Minister Ewart Brown alike.

"The fairways and greens have never been better irrigated and my knock-down drive has proved very successful", said Minister Brown from the 16th Tee of Port Royal Golf Club.

"The hurricane force winds and blinding rain make for a unique golfing experience, one other destinations can't match" he added. "In fact, the wind is carrying our drives so far that we keep losing them. The Pro Shops are thrilled with the volume of balls and rain suits they're selling".

The Department of Tourism also announced an exciting new initiative. Tourism ambassadors, in full rain regalia, will distribute complimentary sets of rain grip gloves to every arriving visitor between December and April.

"This is the type of creative thinking we need to turn tourism around in Bermuda. Don't let anyone tell you we're not a winter destination", the leaf covered and shivering Minister proclaimed.

The Tourism Minister must be thrilled to see Golf and Spa season is in full effect:

From the Bermuda Weather Service:

Issued at 4:30 am - Wednesday, 2nd February, 2005 Headline - A storm is born

Public Synopsis - Strong gale to storm force winds persist as a nearby storm continues to deepen. This storm will stall to our east, keeping cloud, showers and very windy conditions for our area during the next several days.

Today - Overcast with periods of rain or showers... Winds gale force to storm force north-northwesterly, with hurricane force gusts... High near 64°.

Tonight - Mostly cloudy with a few showery periods... Winds strong to gale force north-northwesterly, becoming north-northeasterly... Low near 53°.

I wonder if the Dept. of Tourism was smart enough to buy event cancellation insurance for the Music Festival?

If they didn't, I'd suggest they look into it for future years. Surely alot of money was lost on this year's event, admittedly due to forces beyond the DOT's control. But this is an insurable risk. Major events like the World Cup, Olympics etc. all take out insurance protection for acts of terrorism, natural disasters etc..

In the same way that a surety bond is required on all major capital projects, event cancellation insurance should be mandatory for major Government sponsored events.

Maybe the BIU would be up for providing it?

Seal's performance last night at the Bermuda Music Festival last night was as good as it gets.

Total class.

The evening didn't go off without a few glitches in scheduling and some poor sound quality, but the sound was sorted for the main act and all was forgotten about 15 seconds after Seal stepped on stage.

He had the crowd eating out of his hands.

What a show!

I take that last post back. I missed the country field under the second zip code field!

The ticket selection online seems strange though. Only the last row ever is available, no matter how many tickets you select or the night. I'll try my luck at Sound Stage.

Sorry for the error.

Isn't it ironic that Bermudians can't buy tickets online to our own Music Festival!

The escalation of the taxi/Dr. Brown dispute can be nothing but problematic. We're entering tourist season and word of blockades at the airport, strikes, slow downs etc. will travel very rapidly through the travel industry, potentially ruining our first season post-Fabian.

The dispute frankly seems silly. If Dr. Brown removed the mandatory aspect of the GPS proposal then the industry wouldn't have a leg to stand on in opposing it's implementation. The mandatory aspect only arouses resentment, suspicion and mistrust from the taxi owners when a Government backbencher (George Scott) and a PLP activist are involved in one of the dispatching companies.

But take a step back and consider what other business ventures receive this type of guarantee from the Government. Normally, when you establish a business it involves some risk upfront. You have to invest capital on the premise that your product will be appealing and have a demand, recouping your initial investment and making further profits over time.

But where's the risk for the GPS dispatching companies? There isn't much really - they're promised guaranteed customers which should fund virtually all of their investment and put them into an almost immediate profit position. I wouldn't have a big problem with Government providing an incentive for the dispatching companies and drivers to take up the product, thereby reducing some of the risk for both sides. But as it stands now the drivers feel - rightly - that they are being forced to do business with unproven companies who are favoured by Government, not the industry.

Dr. Brown should put his considerable ego aside and make this system optional. The taxi industry is a pretty unsympathetic one in Bermuda and the public aren't falling over themselves in support of the drivers, but they do seem sympathetic to their plight and treatment by the Government. The industry is so decentralised that it has many well documented performance problems but the combative, arrogant and heavy-handed approach from Dr. Brown won't solve that. In fact it's done nothing but cause more problems. Bermudians would surely get behind the Government's efforts to improve taxi service, but it hasn't happened yet.

If a GPS dispatching system is the holy grail of taxi service, providing better service for the public and higher profits for the drivers, then let it stand on it's own and prove its value. And if the dispatching companies truly believe in their product they should have little to worry about. If the drivers refuse to adopt an optional system that is making other drivers more money then they're crazy and will fail as businesses, making way for new drivers to come in - with the GPS dispatch.

At the end of the day taxi drivers want to make a return on their investment as well. A little more collaboration and a lot less combative negotiating tactics would serve Bermuda, the Government and the taxi industry much better.

Word is that taxi drivers are blocking or slowing down access to the airport as we speak.

The pondblogger picked up this story in the Sun Herald about a Bermuda contingent studying the Biloxi casinos.

The Sun Herald: 'Bermuda officials study Biloxi casinos', Feb. 27th, 2004

Why haven't we heard anything about this trip locally? More worringly, where does the reporter get his information that "a decision is expected this year by the Bermudan Parliament on whether to legalize gambling"?

Look for the local press to pick up on this shortly.

Today's Royal Gazette resurrects, courtesy of Tony Brannon, the issue of the value we get for our tax dollar out of the Ministry of Tourism. Economist Bob Stewart is a regular contributor to the Letters to the Editor page on this topic.

I've come around to this position after the past few years of declining arrivals but increased taxpayer funding. The DOT has turned into a huge money pit. It's not all their fault as they work at the direction of the Minister but I think the Minsitry needs to be overhauled. As Tony Brennan points out in today's story, if the DOT were to exist in the private sector it would have either been out of business or the employees replaced a long time ago.

In fact, the most promising thing to hit the tourism front recently is the competition to redevelop the Hamilton Waterfront, and that is - not surprisingly - a private sector driven project that the PLP will no doubt try and latch on to as their own.

One thing sums up the lack of need for a Department of Tourism staffed by career civil servants: there is no Department of International Business yet this industry, largely self regulating with Government facilitation, has rapidly superceded tourism as Bermuda's economic engine.

I don't think this can be understated.

The Ministry of Finance plays a high level role, the Registrar of Companies facilitates the setting up of companies and the industry has an advisory council made up of industry leaders. There is no budget!

So let's get rid of the Department of Tourism as we know it.

Let's have a budget that gets allocated to a private sector Tourism Authority who develops a strategic plan and spends the dollars with little bureucratic interference. The cost overhead of running a bloated Ministry would be removed, releasing more dollars for marketing and product development. The people whose jobs depend on the industry thriving, not union protection regardless of performance, would inevitably get creative and stand a much better chance at returning the industry to it's former glory days.

I'd argue that it would make more sense than the current status quo to take the $35 Million dollar budget, drop the marketing and use it to buy 70,000 airline tickets (assumed $500 each) and give them away to tourists in our key markets!

So while the Minister may want to dismiss Tony Brannon with a comment like: "My life doesn�t revolve around what Tony Brannon thinks", he's got a point. Unlike the Minister, who appears to have total job protection from Alex Scott in return for loyalty, Tony's livelihood (and those of the thousands of Bermudians working in the industry) are inextricably tied to a successful tourism product.

To add insult to injury the Minister herself stands to get a hefty pay raise in this year's budget, despite presiding over the continuing decline - and embarrassing Hawaii episode - of Bermuda's tourism product.

I remain completely puzzled by the constant drip of news that we have yet another connection with Cuba. After the revelation that Wedco is acting suspiciously with the cement contract we now hear that we've got a new charter between Spain, Cuba and Bermuda.

I can't think of two more different destinations from a target visitor perspective. People go to Cuba go for a cheap vacation and lots of partying. On the other hand the people we target, according to our Tourism Minister, are high earners who don't mind dropping a bomb and going to bed early. So I'm more than a little skeptical that this will last.

But again, the PLP seem to want Cuba to be involved in everything they do. I don't get it.

Civil Servants, while much maligned for their productivity, are reasonable people. I spent two summers in the Parks Department (about 8 years ago) where there was a genuine respect for senior employees and certainly the Minister, although the same petty office politics were present that exist in any organisation. I was never around when a Minister was present, so I don't know if people stood or not, but this whole controversy around Renee Webb is symptomatic of a larger problem.

Actually I've always thought that the unrequired formality between similar level civil servants was a little over the top (calling co-workers by their surnames - Ms. Smith, for example). In my experience, civil servants tend to err on the side of being overly deferential. In light of this I look at the Renee Webb controversy as a real problem. Nothing good will come out of Tourism under her leadership, because she isn't going to change.

The following quote from the article sums it up quite well:

A senior civil servant also confirmed staff are expected to stand up for Ministers, but said it showed the extent to which Ms Webb�s relationship with staff had deteriorated that she had to demand this from them.

�Yes, absolutely, staff should stand up, but she shouldn�t have to ask for it, should she?� said the source.

When you juxtapose this with the PLP's election proclamations that they are the party of the people, the D.O.T. revolt is pretty telling. I vividly recall Renee Webb screeching at a PLP election rally something to the effect of "Do you really think that Grant Gibbons from Tuckers Town understands your needs as well as we can". Well, maybe not but I bet he's more approachable and receptive to them than Renee Webb.

We've never had this type of anger by the civil service. They feel undervalued and treated with dis-respect since the PLP came in. This isn't the first time this issue has cropped up. A few years ago the Civil Service was angry because a memo was sent out with then-Premier Jennifer Smith demanding that people use a ridiculously pretentious title in any correspondence to her, including an Honourary Degree.

Bermuda's a small place and we're all pretty familiar with each other. We're electing representatives not monarchs. We'd get much more done without all this pretense in the conducting of our Governmental affairs. If Minister Webb treated D.O.T. employees with some respect, I imagine she'll get some in return.

Perhaps they'd be happy to stand when she entered the room.

Santa has delivered a well deserved lump of coal to Minister Webb for Christmas. RG, Mid Ocean and Bermuda Sun are all running the Tourism Christimas Party snub story heavily, as are the electronic media.

It looks like the Dept. of Tourism staff are standing up to Ms. Webb, not for her as she demands!

I guess all that talk around election time of a Government of the people rings as hollow today as it did then (I say again, the more things change the more they stay the same). Never have we had such a revolt in the Civil Service and general public from the royal treatment our Ministers expect.

Unless Minister Webb is removed and her actions are publicly rebuked by the Premier, we can only assume that this behaviour is condoned and expected of all Ministers.

I guess the PLP's problem wasn't that elites extisted in Bermuda but that they weren't in them!

Phillip Wells wonders why the Minister would want to build another golf course at Morgan's Point? This is one of the few things that I think Ms. Webb is on the right track with, although her Cabinet colleagues don't seem to agree.

Morgan's Point is the last large land mass available for a major new tourism development. Bermuda has not had a new resort in over 20 years. Our current properties are aging and showing it.

In fact, prior to the 98 election, the UBP (under Pam Gordon), had this ready for development but Terry Lister killed the deal with the developer, mostly because the UBP initiated it.

The thinking behind developing Morgan's Point is along these lines:

Tourism in the Bahamas was single-handedly resurrected with the Atlantis resort. A similar high-profile development here could do the same, and this is the last location where it can be done. Missing this opportunity will probably indicate that we've given up on tourism.

Unless we accept that we are out of the tourism business, we should move on this as a development immediately. The golf component was intended, under the UBP, to have a PGA tour quality course that major PGA events could be hosted at, bringing in high-earning visitors. It would also be attractive to our international businesses for entertaining their clients (who have large expense accounts). This makes sense to me as it is compatible with our target demographic. Remember this is much more than just a golf course development.

Now, with regards to the concern that this should be used for housing:

Bermuda has, as Phil points out, an 'affordable' housing problem. There is ample land - and derelict homes, around the island to develop units in a more distributed manner, preventing clusters. We could also relax some of the planning laws to allow higher rise developments in some lower, sheltered areas that wouldn't create a blight on the landscape.

Chances are that any development on this site would be too concerntrated with low-income housing, potentially creating a ghetto. Although the original plans, pre-1998, did have a housing component to it. If I remember correctly there was a range of price levels.

I don't support building a big residential development at Morgan's Point. Having a 'marquee' resort would do much more good for the island and stimulate other areas of the tourist sector.

This is a broad, complex topic but I think this is a decent summary of the main issues. There is much more that could be discussed like traffic, environmental liablity/issues etc..

I've been listening to tonight's Tourism Forum on the radio. I must admit it couldn't have been promoted too well because I stumbled across it by accident. The panel was strong and from the sounds of it there was good attendance.

Gambling came up as a hot topic - as always, along with entertainment, airlines etc.. To a large extent most of the issues have been discussed before but it was refreshing to see it done in the open among the community.

Charles Gosling hit the nail on the head when he said that all this dialogue shouldn't stand in the way of action.

The ideas and energy of the forum reinforced the need to remove the politics from Tourism. The dialogue was much more productive than anything that goes on in Parliament, or the back and forth in the press. Minister Renee Webb sounded like she was committed to removing the politics from tourism, but was coy about endorsing an autonomous Tourism Authority - as has been repeatedly called for. David Dodwell who was on the panel is probably the most vocal proponent of this. Perhaps it is coming nearer to becoming a reality.

Probably the the most newsworthy item of the evening was Minister Webb admitting that the Morgan's Point development is "off the table" as a development site for a resort development. Apparently Cabinet has other plans, but the Minister did seem determined to continue to raise it with her colleagues.

You can submit your thoughts by email to tourism_forum@gov.bm.

The potential developers of the old Club Med site appear to be off to a good start. What they are proposing for a summer festival sounds promising. We've already got the Bermuda Festival but I assume this one is going to be targeted to overseas visitors as well as locals.

I hope this development comes together because what has been put on the table so far seems very promising and the CEO sounds quite creative in her ideas.

Finally a glimmer of hope in the depressing stream of bad tourism news Royal Gazette.

St. George's could use this boost and the eyesore of the old Club Med may finally come down. We've gone through this a few times before (Morgan's Point) but hopefully this will materialise.

If you combine this with Rammy Smith's project perhaps the long lull in new developments will be stopped with two top notch resorts.

A pressure group has formed to push Government to address the Tourism crisis. Renee Webb gave a classic politician's response in the article, but based on her track record they'll be resisted all the way.

The goals of the group can be found on their website and are detailed in this Mid Ocean News story.

The revelation that Government has abandoned plans for a tourism development at Morgan's Point is interesting. I was most intrigued by Terry Lister's comments at the end of the story:

However hotels were not part of the plans because Mr. Lister said there were plenty of plans elsewhere on the Island, including Belmont, Tucker's Point, Palmetto and Lantana.
The minister said hotels which had reinvested recently under the Hotel Concessions Act should get the opportunity to fill their rooms to get their money back.
"It's only fair that they should."

Are the PLP actively discouraging new hotel developments on the island as a kick back to the current recipients of the Hotel Concessions Act?

If so it is completely inapproprate. When future hotel developers approach the Government they must be considered seriously rather than prejudged. Any Government is entitled to determine the appropriate level of development for a country, but this sounds more like a money issue for a few investors rather than Cabinet looking out for the welfare of Bermudians first.

Couple this with Tourism Minister Renee Webb's recent comments that it isn't the Tourism Ministry's job to fill hotel beds. Those in the tourism industry should be very concerned about the direction the PLP are taking us.

Below is the text of my Letter to the Editor published in Saturday's Royal Gazette. It hasn't shown up on their online edition yet.

On ZBM news last night, and in RG today, Derrick Burgess commented that the Union has an agreement with Coco Reef Hotel (formerly Stonington) and that they are required to provide a months notice before termination of employment.

He isn't worried because they have an agreement - "There is a price to pay for that". Too bad we can't take comfort in agreements the Union is bound to!

Without getting into the merits of this dispute, Mr. Burgess reveals a glaring double-standard when it comes to agreements and the BIU.

The Union also have agreements. They have legislated agreements requiring 21 days notice before a withdrawal of labour for essential services. Mr. Burgess likes to selectively honor some legislation but continually lead direct illegal strike action time after time.