whole—growing the entire Bermuda pie so that everybody gets a little extra slice of it.
The pressure of needing to do this has been a driving force behind it, but it’s been encouraging to see this complete collaboration. It’s a matter of needing to do it, and then wanting to do it because you’ve seen results. It is also having the competency of the people that you’re collaborating with being just a notch higher than it may have been in previous years.
Wojciechowski: Although the green shoots haven’t yet come through, the number of places we’ve been asked to come and talk about changes in Bermuda is indicative of the future recovery—places whose doors were never open to us in the past. Because of the collaborative approach that has happened in the asset management taskforce and at the BDA, people are seeing that there could be a re-emerging competitive force out there, and they absolutely need to be aware of it.
That’s a really strong indicator, especially in the North American market, which on the asset management side has been dedicated and pretty straightforward in thinking in terms of jurisdictions. At the exchange we touch every aspect of business in Bermuda, we have 300 listed securities that are funds, and that can grow if the jurisdiction continues to develop on the asset management side—we’re delighted to see Bermuda making headway again.
It’s evolutionary; business doesn’t stand still, and Bermuda isn’t standing still. On the banking side there’s the old infrastructure changing and new entrants coming in because they firmly believe there’s a value proposition here that hasn’t been unleashed yet. I’m very optimistic because the new participants are talking to us about using the capital markets platform in a whole different way than we’ve ever used in the past, which could potentially drive a whole new angle of business to Bermuda which we haven’t thought about before.
What do you think is being done to strengthen tourism on island?
Collier: Creating a tourism authority was the right decision and putting more independence into running that business. We’ve spoken about Pink Beach and Club Med, but there are opportunities out there to develop further in the hospitality industry. There’s a government willing to listen and be flexible. We can’t all be at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess and Fairmont Southampton or Tucker’s Point because $600 a night is a lot of money, so there’s got to be an effort to find a product that’s going to bring a whole slew of people to the Island.
The government will listen and lending opportunities and foreign investment will make that happen if we allow it.
Bridgewater: I don’t see tourism as being secondary to international business: it’s complementary. There are tourists who come here for many years who see the business opportunities from spending a lot of time
here. So they go hand in hand with regards to attracting investment. In addition, we need a really good tourism product to entertain and accommodate our business travellers. We just need to have everyone working together; strong tourism supports strong international business.
Smatt: I agree. Our tourism product is key to our success. It must remain a core focus for the Island and be approached with the same hunger for innovation as we see in other industries. Marcus Samuelsson’s opening a signature restaurant at the Hamilton Princess is new and exciting and a good example of recent innovation.
Signature restaurants are something that you expect to see in any leading jurisdiction. Decisions are being made, projects are starting to take hold or are about to begin. I look forward to that continuing.
Bell: The quality of our tourism product, tied in with the quality of our international business product should be our focus. It’s about identifying what we are and what people want from us as well as identifying our target audience.
Smatt: It’s also important to talk about talent. We need to give the cachet back to the tourism industry so that young talent is attracted to it. Seeing the service industry as the art that it is, not a second choice, is important. Bermuda, in so many respects, was built upon that. The innovation and entrepreneurship that flourished around the tourism industry were key to our development and it’s important to bring that perspective back.
Webber: The government formed the economic development committee as one of the first things they did when they came into power in 2012. They looked immediately to hotel and large scale infrastructure projects to help spur economic development. We were therefore able to progress issues such as the Green family getting their concessions in order to build the type of hotel we’re starting to see in the Hamilton Princess.
Because of the ability to move these things forward, that had been stagnating for years, we now see that the Sonesta site is cleaned up and is about to become a beach concession for the Hamilton Princess. Because of the work that we were able to push through that committee, Pink Beach has been sold and is about to be redeveloped.
A developer has been selected for the Fort St. Catherine’s site up in St George’s—it looks spectacular. The difference now versus some of the other proposals is that they’ve got the money. Ariel Sands was mentioned as well—it’s taking a little longer but that’s going to come on board.
71 Bermuda Finance | 2014
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