Bermuda Tourism Authority (BTA) will welcome agents on a November fam trip as it tries to put the destination at “front of mind”.
The island country launched the Lost Yet Found campaign earlier this month with social media content and graphics to encourage consumers to visit.
It is now inviting agents on a fam trip as a means of driving interest in the destination, which is struggling to return to its pre-pandemic tourism levels.
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Although the average stay from UK travellers has increased from between three and five days to between five and seven days, UK visitor numbers remain at 65% of 2019 levels.
The tourism board cites reduced airlift as the main reason for its slow recovery, as daily flights from London-Bermuda have been decreased to five times a week.
Visitors are also still currently required to show proof of a negative Covid test to enter the country.
In an interview with Travel Weekly, BTA chief executive Tracy Berkeley said: “Both our airlift and our visitor numbers have suffered since the pandemic so we are looking to increase the number of flights we have so we can get both back to 2019 levels.
“We launched the Lost Yet Found campaign earlier this month to try to get the message out about Bermuda.
“We had a lot of work to do to draw people back to Bermuda after the pandemic, so we have reformed and refreshed our approach to enticing visitors.
“The campaign was made by Bermudians and shows off the island in its best light. We want visitors to feel emotionally connected to the island.
“Tourism is very important for Bermuda and we are hoping there will be some news about relaxed Covid entry rules soon.”
BTA is offering training to agents interested in learning more about the destination, and declared the trade the “driving force” behind Bermuda holiday sales.
“The trade is hugely important to us as it’s our first line of defence and helps us to sell the destination,” Berkeley continued. “The fact we are not always front of mind for consumers is something that we want to change and we need agents’ help to do that.
“We last did a fam trip in May and we are planning on doing another at the end of November. When we have people on the island they can understand the product and see that it is a picturesque, boutique destination so they can then understand the type of visitor that would be suited to it.
“The trade is the driving force for what we are doing and we have no means of getting to market without our trade partners so we want to take as many of them as possible to Bermuda to experience it themselves.”