Promoting the island’s pristine shoreline for visitors and developing a thriving beach economy will not come at the expense of environmental considerations.

This was the pledge from the Bermuda Tourism Authority’s Glenn Jones, who spoke to the Hamilton Rotary Club last week about the BTA’s vision for improving five beaches.

Mr Jones, the BTA’s director of public and stakeholder relations, later spoke to The Royal Gazette about plans for developing Bermuda’s beach economy.

“We have been working for a while on how to improve the island’s beach economy to grow the number of jobs for Bermudians and increase what visitors spend here,” Mr Jones said.

“We went out and did an extensive survey with recent visitors to Bermuda and also talked to visitors who haven’t been but are in our target audience. We asked them what they look for in a beach experience.

“We took that information and measured it against what we have currently to figure out where the gaps were that need to be filled in.

“Those gaps are really an economic opportunity for the country.”

The BTA has been working with the Bermuda Government to help develop the island’s beach economy and is about to embark on a campaign of public engagement.

Mr Jones said that all parties were aware of the importance of environmental concerns as they worked to promote and improve Bermuda’s beach product.

“We know if we ruin the environmental aspects of what visitors love about Bermuda we will also ruin the economic opportunity. That’s why we propose no new structures at beaches where they don’t already exist.”

“It’s also important to remember that there are 40 public beaches in Bermuda; our approach is focusing on five. Just 12 per cent.

“We believe that is restrained and responsible.”