A concerted effort must be made to promote Bermuda as a top tourist destination and to preserve and enhance the agriculture industry, argues the Leader of the Opposition party.
Hon. Kim Swan, JP,
MP, in Hamilton. Mr Swan has represented the United Bermuda Party in the Senate since 1998, serving as Leader of the Opposition since 2001.
Despite being one of the most isolated islands in the world and its small size and small population, Bermuda boasts one of the world’s highest levels of income per capita and one of the highest standards of living. For more than a
generation, there has been virtually no unemployment.
Its relatively small population – 62,059 by the 2000 census – has proven itself through the years to be innovative, resourceful and resilient in doing what was needed to get by in a tough and preoccupied world.
Bermudians have been fishermen, farmers, traders, shipbuilders and hosts to a world of vacationers – each incarnation representing a new chapter in the economic history of our island. International business is the most recent economic
phenomenon. Although we have been in the business since the end of the Second World War, the trickle of international companies to our shores began in the early 1990s and catapulted the island to the
4 | The Parliamentarian | 2009: Issue One - Bermuda
highest levels of economic success.
Unlike some others, we believe the most productive road ahead in this business involves transparency
the traditional kind. We rely on those qualities of innovation and resourcefulness to earn our living, and we live with the knowledge that at any time, the world can turn its back on what we have to offer. In the past, steam displaced our sailing ships and our trading, and competition displaced our agricultural business, at least insofar as our export of agricultural products is concerned.
Hon. H. Kim Swan
and full cooperation with other countries. As you will perhaps read in an article in this supplement from another writer, Bermuda places itself at the end of the international business spectrum farthest from those which can truly be called tax havens.
Still we remain an isolated island with no natural resources of
Our tourism business has been in decline for a decade and a half. We do not believe this means that tourism will die out – the need for rest and recreation in a sunny climate like ours will probably never disappear – but it does mean that turning around the decline will require astute decisions, discipline, leadership and perseverance. This article will look at two sectors in our economy – tourism and agriculture – in terms of what it takes to maintain and grow its place in the lives of our people. Both have seen better days but our hope is that they can be restored to levels of activity that are realistic and sustainable. This is important