A drive to double the number of African-American tourists by 2025 has been launched.

Kevin Dallas, the chief executive of the Bermuda Tourism Authority, said that while 182,439 people flew to the island in 2017 only 7,298, about four per cent, self-identified as African American.

He added: “Our research shows African-American consumers make up about 11 per cent of our target audience in the cities where we focus our marketing efforts.

“Currently, only four per cent of our leisure air visitors identify as African-American.

“That means our destination is not winning its fair share of the African-American travel market, which is now a $63 billion a year industry.

“This is a tremendous business opportunity for Bermuda and we can chase it down by mounting a co-ordinated effort with tourism stakeholders. The BTA cannot do it alone.”

Mr Dallas said the BTA was one of nine sponsors of the African-American Travel Report — a study conducted by Mandala Research.

The results showed that there was little awareness of the cultural relevance of Bermuda to African-Americans.

Mr Dallas said: “If we can enhance our cultural tourism offerings and make them relevant to the African-American experience and compelling to African-American travellers, we can win with this audience and meet the ambitious target.

“And importantly, these enriched cultural offerings about the black experience in Bermuda will appeal to all audiences, regardless of race.”