The plane truth

December 12, 2003

Dear Sir,

'Air arrivals tumble again' - why is this headline a surprise? The cost of a plane ticket to Bermuda is outrageous and the powers to be in Bermuda Tourism continue to stick their collective heads in the sand by ignoring this obvious deterrent to visiting this Island.

When a round-trip ticket from any of the major metro New York airports ranges from $600-$650 you have created a major obstacle for many leisure travellers. This cost could be justified if you were travelling half way around the world, but an hour and a half trip. Get real.

By continuing this head-in-the-sand approach and a do nothing about lowering airfares or attracting lower cost air carriers to do business in Bermuda such as JetBlue, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to predict the outcome.

Placing blame for the decline is easy and the folks in charge of promoting tourism have made a sport of placing blame.

It's about time to take some positive action and put a workable plan into place to encourage visitors.

Bermuda Tourism should make that their New Year's resolution.

GIB COLESWORTHY

Fairfield, Connecticut