The Bermuda Tourism Authority has urged the Bermuda Government to boost its funding in the upcoming Budget.

Bill Hanbury, the chief executive of the Bermuda Tourism Authority, told The Royal Gazette that an increased budget figure was vital and would go towards advertising and marketing the island.

He said that 2016 was a “very important year” for the authority and he believed it had the makings of a “decent year”.

“We have asked for a significant increase in our budget because we desperately need it,” Mr Hanbury said.

“The vast majority would go on advertising and marketing.

“We think we have made a compelling case to Government for additional funding, but we will see.”

In 2015, the BTA’s grant from Government totalled $21.7 million; the lowest in more than a decade.

Despite the cut in funding the tourism industry generated more than $50 million in taxes as well as $300 million economic impact.

“We are the best investment that the country is making and one of the few things that Government can invest in and generate an economic impact,” Mr Hanbury said.

“We have built a good machine. It does not have all the fuel it needs but it has the capacity to do very well.”

Mr Hanbury revealed that the America’s Cup had already increased global awareness of the island as a potential for sporting events.

He also maintained that convention travel in 2016 looked set to increase with an accompanying rise in cruise calls.

“We are going to have a decent year,” Mr Hanbury said. “I’m optimistic things will be better than 2015, but there are still a lot of headwinds out there.

“The Canadian economy and exchange rates are big issues and we have seen a pretty significant decline in visitors coming from Canada, which is traditionally our second-biggest market. Unfortunately, we have no control over exchange rates and with these kind of numbers it is difficult to be completely successful.

“There is going to be more airlift in the first quarter, which is really good news, but we still need to fill that capacity.

“It’s a really important year for us, I’m not thinking about the America’s Cup at the moment, I’m concerned about getting the numbers up for 2016.

“The America’s Cup has obviously helped and taken us to places we could not have gone otherwise and given us strong affiliations with big names.

“It has also raised awareness about us as a sailing venue and as well as a sports venue and we have seen some results on that already.”