July 14, 2011Dear Sir,The Government’s Bermuda Department of Tourism (BDOT) needs to be disbanded and replaced by a private sector co-operative so that the future of tourism is in the hands of the immediate stakeholders.Tourism is a business and we need business minds to run it. The Government presently has no focus and its Tourism Minister has little or no expertise in these matters. I am a Bermudian and have worked for a destination marketing agency overseas that had Bermuda Tourism as their largest client. I can tell you that our best efforts to market the island were stifled by the bureaucracy involved in dealing with a Government department, and the lack of consistent focus on the Bermuda product was the result of successive Ministers taking the reins, with different ideas, expertise, and yes, a definite regard for their own self-interest. There were and probably still are some very hard working civil servants within the department, who are very knowledgeable and have a long history marketing the Bermuda product. However, it is wrong to politicise this very important sector of Bermuda’s economy.Many other Island destinations have a tourism authority, which functions separately from government, and as a result is more dynamic, less bureaucratic, and far more in tune with the needs of the stakeholders. A tourism authority would involve all stakeholders, but have a board of directors to represent their interests at the highest level. All stakeholders would have a say in tourism matters, and it would be led by a CEO (hotelier or other senior industry representative) on a rotational basis, who is ultimately answerable to the Board.A long term plan could be formulated and therefore we would have consistent representation of the Bermuda brand overseas, without the meddling of a handful of Government Ministers with their own ideas and political self-interest in play. Ideally, Government would only fund the authority and provide some oversight on specific matters. The BDOT civil servants could now work for a private tourism authority, and Bermuda can get back on track with its tourism product via a more dynamic and focused entity that is managed by and administered by those who know the tourism industry best — its stakeholders.NO TO POLITICS IN TOURISMPaget