19 September, 2014

Dear Sir,

It is great that you are a part of that team for a couple of months, but I believe you have forgotten that the independent group you are linked with are a direct result of political mayhem orchestrated by the OBA government against the Bermudian Department of Tourism.

I would suggest you take your head out of the sand and stop pretending about the real truth of this group and the fact that it was not designed to be a sustainable fabric of the Bermudian populace. Before you were born the ASTA group were a direct partner to Bermuda Tourism.

There are numerous Bermudians who over the decades had built solid working relationships with ASTA and other such partners.

The BTA group that you speak of were given a bank deposit of millions of our dollars to introduce new vigour to our industry, yet they appeal to our key ambassadors the taxi drivers for discount fares to shuttle the travel agents around. Don’t you think it would have bode well that the agents experience an atmosphere of direct contact with the drivers that represent our best, unless of course the Bermuda Tourism Authority are hatching a plan that removes the maximum usage of taxis.

However, as we can now see, the predictions of some critics like myself are coming to light. You speak of the focus of those people as if the former department of tourism were a bunch of lesser people. In other words you insult your own kindred to elevate Mr Hanbury and company. To date we have not seen any elements of industry growth, more so they and the minister are not accountable to us in any way. That is not good governance or transparency.

Actually Mr Jones it is not the crossfire of politics that will undermine the BTA failure, it is the removal of many Bermudians as an intricate part of a sustainable team.

JOHN HOLDIPP III