To raise tourism air arrivals, Bermuda needs to get the Fairmont Southampton back up and running, a veteran hotelier has said.

Bermuda’s largest hotel has been closed since the pandemic began in 2020. Now, there is controversy about plans to redevelop the property that would take up a portion of the golf course.

But former tourism minister and The Reefs Resort & Club owner David Dodwell said: “Air arrivals are Bermuda’s biggest challenge. One of the ways to get those figures up, would be an announcement that work has started on the Fairmont Southampton.”

He refused to comment on the design aspects of the Fairmont Southampton’s special development order but said having the hotel open would help the entire island.

He said it would also attract investment into other properties in Bermuda, such as the Elbow Beach Hotel and Morgan’s Point in Southampton.

“St Regis is new and that has helped,” he said.

Mr Dodwell was Minister of Tourism from 1995 to 1998 and in 2013 was the founding chair of the Bermuda Tourism Authority. In December, he marks half a century running The Reefs in Southampton.

At first, he managed it for absentee American hotelier, Vernon Stuart. Then he began to buy ownership of it in 1977.

Back then, the room rate for two people including breakfast and dinner was $72 a night. Today, summer top rates start at $650 to $700 a night, before any promotions or specials.

This week’s Expedia has it discounted from $740 to $592, together with an “exceptional” rating.

The upscale property has 62 guest rooms, suites and cottages, as well as 19 furnished two and three-bedroom luxury club condos.

The 75-year-old Mr Dodwell recalled: “Bermuda’s best year was 1980 when the island had 5,000 rooms and occupancy was 73 per cent,” he said.

“Our worst year was 1981 when the entire Bermuda hotel industry went on strike for better pay. That really hammered Bermuda and the industry. The airport was closed.”

He said Bermuda had never returned to its previous high occupancy numbers; but he did not believe the 1981 strike was to blame.

“The world started opening up on tourism,” he said. “People were suddenly thinking about going to places like South Africa and new destinations were promoting themselves. It became more and more difficult for hotels to become profitable and they started to close.”

But nothing he has experienced in the past half century compared to the challenges of running a hotel during a global health pandemic.

“We did not really know in March 2020 where we would end up,” he said. “In April 2020, the lockdown ended and we reopened again and thought, ‘OK, this is behind us’. Then everything closed again, briefly.”

His son David Dodwell Jr, The Reefs general manager, said that when the pandemic began, they did not know if the health crisis would last five months or five years.

“I think the uncertainty and worldwide pandemic really impacted a lot of people,” he said.

But The Reefs did better than expected last spring and this summer is already shaping up to be busy.

“We have good occupancy for May and June,” David Dodwell Jr said. “It is still too soon to tell for later in the summer. But one or two good summers are not going to erase the catastrophic years. It is a slow rise back but we are very optimistic seeing the numbers we are seeing this year.”

Mr Dodwell credited the family atmosphere at The Reefs and the continuity of their staff with keeping them open during the difficult times.

“Some of our staff have been around for a long time,” he said. “Staff members such as Ewart Joell, Sylvia Bean, Joan Burgess and Charles Scott all put in more than 50 years of service, before retiring. They were the stalwarts.”

Mr Dodwell’s daughter, Jennifer Cappadona, the resort and club manager, said the global traveller was changing.

“Tourists now want to spend more time exploring a destination’s culture and getting to know the locals,” she said. “So we are creating experiences at the hotel with that in mind.”

Despite his long service, Mr Dodwell has no thoughts of retirement.

“I love it and I am still in decent shape,” he said.