Dear Sir,

The recent article on the interest of Helm Events in bringing three 50ft catamarans to the island for the America’s Cup and retaining them for overnight and weekly charters elicited some erroneous comments online referring to government legislation preventing local charter owners from acting as hotels.

Legislation was introduced to allow what was loosely termed “flotels” under the previous government. Bermuda IV was the first, but is no longer in operation and the 100ft Venetian was the second and holds a hotel licence for overnight guests.

In practice, there has been little demand for this type of business, but an overseas company would be in the position to recommend the island to its existing overseas client base for presumably weeklong vacations. That could be an added benefit to Bermuda and the small numbers would not affect local hotels in any significant way.

The real issue would be that these new 50ft catamarans could be in direct competition, with similar local charter vessels running daily or evening charters, assuming that they could charter their new vessels for shorter periods when they did not have longer charters.

The charter industry is an eight-month industry at best, or six months realistically; most of the medium-sized vessels — 30ft to 75ft — are owned by entrepreneurial individuals who work extremely hard to gain a living in an increasingly competitive environment.

Some Bermudian livelihoods may be lost if Helm Events were allowed to carry out day charters in addition to acting as a hotel, so that scenario should be avoided if it enters the market as a hotel or “flotel”.

TERESA M. CHATFIELD