Bermuda needs more innovation in its tourism product, a veteran Sandys business owner has said.

“We need more creation, more innovation, and more reasons for people to come to Bermuda,” Mstira Weeks said. “If you look at countries that get a lot of tourism, they have things that draw people there. Pink sand beaches are not enough.”

She said her FryDays Bounce Park is not enough to bring people to the island on its own, but adds value to Bermuda’s entertainment offerings.

For the past five years, she and Vic Ball have been operating the space at 7 Sail Loft Lane as the FryDays Trampoline Park.

This month they bounced the trampolines out the door in favour of inflatable equipment.

“I like to follow overseas trends,” Ms Weeks said. “In the US many places are replacing trampolines with air-filled structures.”

She described the new FryDays Bounce Park as a “bouncy castle on steroids”.

Patrons are now able to bounce all the way through the park and there will be more activities such as a slide, basketball and dodgeball and a maze. It is now a glow-in-the-dark facility.

“When we do private parties we have the ability to match the colours of the lights to the party’s theme,” she said.

The switch overseas is partly about safety.

“Jumping on the trampoline is fun, but it is an extreme sport,” she said. “The inflatable equipment is more durable, and bits and pieces of it can easily be swapped out to keep things new, or for repairs.”

Although they get clients from the cruise ships during the tourism season, the majority of their patrons are local children and teens.

Children are a shrinking demographic in Bermuda, where the average age is 45, but Ms Weeks is not bothered.

“That is not impacting us,” she said. “We have a lot of people coming to us for birthday parties, or just looking for something to do with their children. We also do fundraisers.”

Since launching the FryDays Bounce Park last week, she is finding more adults going through the park with their children.

“There is more interaction,” she said. “With the trampolines, as an adult, you always have to think about your knees, or things like that. With this, not so much. The adults are enjoying it just as much as the kids.”

Ms Weeks said the FryDays Bounce Park helps to keep children active and off their electronic devices.

Since the relaunch they have raised their prices slightly for birthday parties.

“We now include pizza and juice boxes and other things as part of our birthday package,” she said.

General entry is $15 for an hour, or $24 for two hours.

“We have kept entry the same as it was since we opened as a trampoline park in 2018,” Ms Weeks said.

She said entry to similar parks in the United States is usually higher.

“We want to be an affordable option for families to have fun,” Ms Weeks said. “It is about community.”

They are hoping that if they keep prices down they can get more volume in the door.