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April 9, 2007

Dear Sir,

Re: “Travel agent troubled by Tourism office closures” —

I entirely agree with Ann-Boyd Skinner’s comments about the negative impact of the closure of Bermuda tourist offices in Canada. The customer service we received from the New York office was lousy. You cannot expect to attract more visitors to Bermuda, unless you provide good customer service from the moment the prospective tourist telephones. There is so much competition out there for tourist dollars, and only the most efficient customer-oriented destinations will survive.

My wife and I have been visiting Bermuda every February or March for the past 12 years and, as a tourism marketing consultant, with more than 35 years in the tourism marketing/sales consulting business, I can assure you that the “buoyant” tourism figures given by the Bermuda Tourism Director are suspect — to the point of being misleading. Most government success figures are. To get the truth, we have to see where the visitors originated, and their length of stay. Were they from the US, Canada, Europe or other countries? Where did this amazing 20-23 percent increase come from? We must be more specific. Overnight visitations are the only ones that really count, in the end. Cruise passengers or “day trippers” are not big spenders — although they are good for inflating the arrival numbers. But let’s not be fooled by them.

In addition, some of the local hotel managers will also tell you that things are not as “buoyant” as we’re being led to believe — so perhaps someone should check these tourism arrival figures again, just to make sure we’re on the right track.

In any event, we all understand the closure of tourism offices — provided that your office maintains a good level of customer service — which has not been happening! It needs to improve — before any long-term damage is done to the Bermuda tourism industry, from Canada.

My wife and I will doubtless return to Bermuda every Spring. We love the place, and the people — but please don’t take us for granted. We want — and deserve — better customer service from Bermuda Tourism!

JOHN COLE

Tourism Marketing Consultant

Toronto, Canada