The Bermuda Tourism Authority is taking a cautious approach to claims that 100,000 underserved market opportunities exist for the island, even as new travel analytics reveal untapped potential in key markets showing strong visitor intent, particularly in the traditional off-season.

During a press briefing yesterday at the Hamilton Princess & Beach Club, Erin Wright, the acting chief executive of the quango, addressed questions about data presented at the Bermuda Partnership Summit by Olivier Ponti, director of intelligence and marketing at ForwardKeys and Amadeus. The figure represents potential visitors from markets demonstrating travel interest but lacking adequate connectivity or targeted marketing to Bermuda.

“There is some validation work that we would have to do on our side to ensure that number is the potential,” Ms Wright stated when asked about the 100,000 opportunity claim. “We do recognise that there’s a lot of potential in that [off-season] period. And as [Mr Ponti] pointed out, it’s not necessarily just November to March, it’s the latter part of September all the way up to part of May that we have hotel capacity that is not full. So there is a lot of potential there, and we’ll be doing the work to ensure that number is accurate.”

Mr Ponti’s presentation revealed striking disparities in visitor behaviour across markets. While East Coast United States travellers typically book last-minute for short stays, markets such as Montreal, London and Toronto show preferences for longer visits with greater economic impact.

“If you take the East Coast US cities, you have a lot of short stays, but if you look at markets like Montreal or London or even Toronto, you’re seeing a lot more either long stays or medium stays,” Mr Ponti explained during his presentation.

The potential opportunities he identified focus on underserved routes with strong travel intent without enough connectivity. Mr Ponti’s analysis revealed cities such as Montreal showing continued demand despite direct service, while markets such as Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago demonstrate interest without direct flights.

The analytics also pointed out Bermuda’s pronounced seasonality compared with similar destinations. “Our algorithm estimates that during that low season, by doing maybe a different job on the US market, you could get more than 100,000 additional stays during those three months,” Mr Ponti stated, referring to the first-quarter period when Bermuda experiences its deepest visitor decline.

Perhaps most striking was Mr Ponti’s revelation about premium travellers: “If we look at all the premium travellers going to Bermuda, half of them are actually coming from London.”

William Griffith, acting chairman, acknowledged the challenges facing the destination. “The UK market has been a topic of discussion for a long time in terms of competition,” Mr Griffith noted, explaining that the market now represents only about 10 per cent of Bermuda's visitors.

Meanwhile, the BTA emphasised that any major initiatives must meet the quango’s standards for evidence-based planning. “Our teams have maintained a clear focus on targeted growth and spend aligning our marketing and business development efforts with data-driven insights,” Mr Griffith said.

Current performance data shows mixed results for Bermuda’s tourism recovery. Year-to-date through August, air visitor arrivals are up a little more than half a per cent, while Canada has emerged as a success story with air visitors up 31 per cent compared with last year. Revenue per available room has increased 12.8 per cent year-to-date, and visitors are staying longer — an average of 6.57 days compared with 6.33 last year.

Mr Griffith explained: “We believe that we can gain more out of our secondary markets. We can diversify our efforts a little bit more, especially in the UK and Canada.”