The tourism season in the East End is heating up quickly, with an improved ferry schedule driving up tourism numbers, according to business owners and operators.

“Before last year, the ferry schedule was tied to the cruise schedule,” explained Astoria Smith, owner of Lacquered Lounge on Water Street. She is part of a St George stakeholder group that has been advocating for improvements.

“You could only get a ferry to St George if there was a cruise ship in Dockyard that was there overnight on a weekday that was not an NCL cruise ship.”

If there was a cruise ship in port in the East End, there was no ferry sent to St George, even if it was there only for one day.

“There are other cruise ship passengers, locals, students and people staying in Airbnbs that also needed to use the ferry,” Ms Smith said.

The challenge is that there are not enough ferries to meet the needs of St George and the rest of the island.

The Government heard the pleas of stakeholders.

“In 2024, Marine and Ports gave us what they could, keeping in mind that Dockyard to St George is the longest trip for a ferry in Bermuda,” Ms Smith said.

As a result, she said, tourism figures were better last year, and promise to be even better this year.

“Bermuda is getting new ferries in the next couple of years, and hopefully we will be considered for those,” she said. “So things are improving year over year.”

Lyn Llewellyn, the president of the St George’s Historical Society, is seeing improving visitor numbers at the Mitchell House Museum on Featherbed Alley. However, Ms Smith has found that some cruise ships have passengers more interested in the beach than culture or history.

“The town crier recently told me that some cruise ship passengers may be passing us by because we charge a $5 entry fee,” she said. “You get a whole tour by a Bermudian when you come to Mitchell House,” she said.

The society sees about 100 visitors a week at this time of year, with airline passengers often outnumbering cruisers.

“We are doing better than last year,” Ms Llewellyn said. “However, it gets quiet on the weekends, because then there are no ferries to St George.”

She said the Bermuda Economic Development Corporation has talked about creating a digital map for St George with links to area businesses.

“It would really help if that also included attractions,” she said.

Kojo Darrell, the restaurant and bar manager of the White Horse Pub & Restaurant in King’s Square, reported a steady flow of customers, mostly cruise passengers, filling the restaurant.

“This year everything got a lot busier faster,” he said. “We are seeing the numbers we want to see. Things are comfortable.”

He said guests from the nearby St Regis Bermuda Resort tend to go to its sister location, the Tobacco Bay Beach Club.

Cris Dapena, of Dragon’s Lair Art Gallery, said this season was shaping up to be one of their best.

“We are doing very well,” she said. “However, that could be because we moved from Somer’s Wharf to Water Street in April.”

The gallery represents 18 different artists.

“We are seeing people willing to pay higher prices for the artwork,” Ms Dapena said.

Astoria Smith said there has also been more marketing work to promote St George.

To drum up even more traffic, there will be a Summer Solstice Shopping event in St George on June 21 from 4pm to 7pm.

“It will be the first Saturday of the summer,” Ms Smith said. “There have been a lot of businesses that have opened or moved locations in St George in the last two years. We wanted people to come down and experience what they have to offer.”

She said locals tend to think of going to St George only for tourism or the annual Bermuda National Trust Christmas Walkabout.

“We wanted to do something special outside of that time,” Ms Smith said.

There will be freebies offered in many different shops.