Priced out of festival

July 29, 2008

Dear Sir,

Last year my wife and I visited Bermuda with tickets for the Music Festival and the PGA Grand Slam. My wife thoroughly enjoyed Smokey Robinson and surprisingly we found Natasha Bedingfield a wonderful exposure to contemporary music. The Grand Slam was my opportunity to watch professional golf up close.

When we informed my sister and her fiance about our travel plans, they planned their wedding to be held in Bermuda during the month of October as they are big golf fans as well. In all we had a memorable experience that kept building as other friends and relatives decided to join in the celebration and events by coming to Bermuda. All stayed at guest houses while we were fortunate to mix housesitting with friends' sofas.

It was our hope to be repeat visitors to both these events and to spend October luxuriating in one of Bermuda's most beautiful seasons.

Unfortunately, the sheer attractivness of the event to youth guaranteed that the Music Festival tickets would be totally sold out. Although we tried to get tickets through the New York Tourism Office this past June, we were referred to a travel agency in Maryland who told us that we would have to book an entire flight,/hotel package in order to get tickets, even though we were flying out of Toronto, Canada and may be able to arrange our own accommodations.

We had given up on the music festival due to its cost until it was announced that 3500 tickets had been made available to overseas visitors. However, upon investigation, we found that our tickets would cost between $2800.00 and $3600.00 U.S. for a four-night stay plus travel and accommodation costs from Toronto to New York and back.

We would love to attend the Music Festival and Grand Slam again this year. We prefer to fly Air Canada and to utilize our Aeroplan, and we much prefer the hospitality of your guest homes. If your government can see their way clear of making Festival tickets available on the same premise as the PGA event tickets, we will be there, probably with friends in tow.

I think it would be a shame to forget the grassroots of Bermudian tourism, the guest houses and the Bermudian friendships you make.

To us, celebrating Bermuda with a corporate logo and affiliation changes Bermuda to a Wal-Mart type of branding, and I can travel anywhere for that, for a lot less!

To the taxi drivers who made us feel as family – One Love.

RAYMOND TRAFFORD

Elora, Ontario

Front Street's woes

July 3, 2008

Dear Sir,

I read today, with great interest and heartfelt sympathy for your retailers, the article reflecting what is happening to Hamilton's businesses along Front Street. As a frequent visitor to Bermuda (15 trips over 6 years), my wife and I have always looked forward to our Hamilton downtown shopping & dining experiences.

Years ago during our first visit we were so impressed with the availability of such a vast assortment of goods which didn't show up on store shelves in Canada. Many weren't even available in the USA (we live very close to the USA border). The bustling stores & restaurants, excellent quality food, friendly and helpful clerks and servers, excellent pricing, busy streets and sidewalks and a healthy businesslike atmosphere clearly spoke volumes for Hamilton's business community.

Over the past three years we have noticed a significant decline in that atmosphere. Flagship stores closing, fewer and fewer tourists both during the days and on Harbour Nights, less help for customers while shopping in the stores or eating in many of the fine restaurants and a general atmosphere of Hamilton slowly going out of business. This year, during our June visit, we learned of the plans to remove / limit the number of cruise ships docking in Hamilton and the ridiculous idea of making Dockyard the "Shopping Mecca" of the island. We visit Dockyard each and every time we are in BDA but it, in our opinion, will never be able to replace what you once had in Hamilton. It's more of a "tourist trap" atmosphere and far away from everything. When you take the ferry to Hamilton, all the time you are shopping you are looking at your watch in case you miss the next ferry back. NOT conducive to a relaxed shopping / dining atmosphere. We have always done land-based vacations there.

I realise that the cruise ship patrons don't offer too many benefits to the restaurant industry given the perpetual availability of food on board, however I would be comfortable in saying that they must provide much needed revenue to other downtown businesses. My wife and I are in Hamilton constantly during our vacations, picking mid-day to afternoon after we feel we have had enough time in the sun. We are always overjoyed with the items we buy, our lunches at Lemon Tree, sandwiches to go from Miles, dinners at Tratorria and Portofino, meeting Carole Holding and purchasing prints, visiting the Chef Shop, Pulp & Circumstance, Browns, Phoenix, Calypso, A.S. Coopers to be sure and all the other businesses in the area. Nowhere else have we ever found there to be such a wonderful business community and are very distressed to see it beginning to crumble. New financial towers going up in place of shops, fear from store clerks that they may lose their jobs and a general downturn in attitude all prevail now where success used to blossom.

Don't make the same mistake that other islands make; tourists get off the ships to a row of tented hucksters peddling their "pretend" island wares. Yes, if you need to limit cruise ships so you can embellish yourselves with a "new harbour waterfront", keep in mind that after it is finished, there will be no reason left to moor there. The shops will all be gone. I don't think that your bankers and insurance co. staff are going to arrive on the island on ships. Do you?

GEORGE NADEAU

St. Catharines, Ontario