August 16, 2011Dear Sir,Last Friday I was in Dockyard for a work function, and planned to catch the 5pm ferry back to Hamilton. As I stood waiting at the dock with a colleague of mine, we spotted the “Bermudian” pulling into the dock. As they let their remaining passengers off the ferry they shouted out to the 50 or so mostly-tourists waiting that some ferries had “broken down” and that we would have to wait another 45 minutes for the next one to come along. Needless to say we were all frustrated, particularly the tourists who no doubt needed to get back to the cruise ship in Hamilton. We were all dumbfounded as this perfectly good ferry boat started to then pull away from the dock.“So where are you going?” someone inquired.“We’re knocking off!” came the response.And that, Mr. Editor, highlights one of the problems with our suffering tourism industry. I would not be surprised if some of those outraged tourists chose not to come back to Bermuda, if Bermudians are more concerned about “knocking off” to the minute, than making sure some of our visitors got home OK. I know it didn’t always use to be that way. Unfortunately, it is often the bad experiences that people most remember when they are on holiday. Those tourists will remember how they were left behind, and definitely did not “feel the love” that day. Even if someone gave them the ETA of the next bus, then at least that would be something.All Bermudians need to understand that if we love our country, we need to make tourism work and show we want to have visitors here. Those who have the vital job of transporting our visitors around the Island need to understand this, and that if you go the extra mile for our visitors you are doing the country and all fellow Bermudians a great service.STRANDED IN DOCKYARDCity of Hamilton