The call was made at a press conference this morning to announce Hospitality Month, which runs through April.

Bermuda Hospitality Institute Chairman Muriel Richardson said the month was an opportunity to highlight the Island’s attractions.

“Each and every one of us has a key role to play in insuring that our visitors have a first class Bermuda experience,” Mrs Richardson, who runs the Rosedon Hotel on Pitts Bay Road, said.

We in the community are all directly or indirectly involved in hospitality in Bermuda and highlighting Hospitality Month is a way to show off, celebrate and say ‘thank you’ to an industry that is growing in strength and renewed popularity.”

Tourism Minister Shawn Crockwell also urged residents to embrace the industry.

“It gives those of us who live on this beautiful island the opportunity to remember what makes Bermuda so special — our beaches and parks, history and culture and of course our unique people,” Mr Crockwell said.

“There are a host of activities that are planned for the month which I encourage the entire community to embrace and enjoy.”

Tourism Authority chairman Bill Hanbury said the BHI was “an extraordinary asset” for the country, adding: “So many people are now talking about the fact that the hospitality industry is the secret to our economic revival.

“These are family-sustaining upwardly mobile jobs that were created in the hospitality industry and at the end of the day it really is all about our children and the fact that they need great jobs in order to have the kind of fulfilled lives that I think everyone on this Island feels they deserve.”