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Bermuda Premier Dunkley: 'We Won't Let You Hide Things' (Audio) · Bloomberg Intelligence

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  Speaker 1: This is a Bloomberg Business Flash from Bloomberg World Headquarters.
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  Speaker 1: I'm Charlie Pellets selling today for the DAL, the SMP,
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  Speaker 1: I'm Charlie Palaton. That's a Bloomberg Business Flash. Days, Good Days.
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  Speaker 1: This is taking stock on Bloomberg. I'm Pim Fox my
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  Speaker 1: co host Kathleen Hayes. We are broadcasting live from Elbow Beach, Bermuda,
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  Speaker 1: an ocean front enclave of classic style and contemporary luxury.
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  Speaker 1: Bermuda is a British overseas territory. And here to tell
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  Speaker 1: us more about Bermuda is the Premier and the Minister
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  Speaker 1: of National Security, the Honorable Michael Dunkley. Thank you very
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  Speaker 1: much for being here, sir. It is great to be here.
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  Speaker 1: And does it get any more beautiful than this? No, no,
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  Speaker 1: it doesn't. I could. I can say definitively I have.
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  Speaker 1: All I had to do was get off the plane
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  Speaker 1: yesterday at the airport, come and sit on that beach,
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  Speaker 1: and all the thoughts I had, what, all the things
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  Speaker 1: I had to do just sort of melting away. It
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  Speaker 1: tends to get like that. And I'll tell all your
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  Speaker 1: listening audience that you are here in beautiful Bermuda. But
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  Speaker 1: there's no rum swizzles or dark and stormies out just yet.
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  Speaker 1: It's a little bit earlier to day. Tell us a
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  Speaker 1: little bit about Bermuda. It's legal status, the way the
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  Speaker 1: politics and the business community work in the island. Tell
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  Speaker 1: us what goes on. We have been blessed with a
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  Speaker 1: very strong system of democracy for hundreds of years, and
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  Speaker 1: along with that we build a very strong foundation uh
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  Speaker 1: in our community and also in the business world. Our
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  Speaker 1: legal system is one that we made sure that at
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  Speaker 1: all times we've continued to make sure that we have
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  Speaker 1: a sound system to be used with appeal to the
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  Speaker 1: Privy Council in London. And I say those comments to
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  Speaker 1: to get to this position where we live in a
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  Speaker 1: small world nowadays because of the technology and how it
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  Speaker 1: moves very quickly and people seem to be the access
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  Speaker 1: to capital in all parts of the world do what
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  Speaker 1: they have to do. But with that comes real increase
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  Speaker 1: in scrutiny to all jurisdictions in regards to how they
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  Speaker 1: run their country. What type of tax system you have,
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  Speaker 1: what type of transparency and compliance you have. And we're
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  Speaker 1: proud in Bermuda that while we might be one of
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  Speaker 1: the most remote places in the world, seven miles from
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  Speaker 1: the East coast, we've built a system that we believe
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  Speaker 1: is just equitable, openly transparent compliance and we cooperate with
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  Speaker 1: all our partners throughout the world to make sure we
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  Speaker 1: stay in that position. And I think if you've seen
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  Speaker 1: over the past couple of weeks, months and years, while
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  Speaker 1: there's been for example, the release of the Panama Papers
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  Speaker 1: with significant discussion about it. Bermuda's reputation has held a
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  Speaker 1: line because when we've built industry, as we've built international
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  Speaker 1: business through the years, seventy eight years ago, before what
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  Speaker 1: people even thought about it, we created our Registry of
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  Speaker 1: Beneficial Interest, and we we set right up front if
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  Speaker 1: you're not going to come to if you're gonna come
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  Speaker 1: to the island, you're gonna do business an appropriate way.
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  Speaker 1: We're not gonna let you hide things. Would you explain
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  Speaker 1: to our listeners who don't know much about Remuda, accept
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  Speaker 1: that beautiful beaches and great golf courses, etcetera, what that
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  Speaker 1: regis wonderful people and what I'm we have talked more
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  Speaker 1: about that. The culture, the people, it's fascinating to me.
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  Speaker 1: Less than a hundred thousand people, so cohesive, it's just amazing.
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  Speaker 1: But tell us about the Beneficial Registry, Well, uh, it
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  Speaker 1: was started in the I would say probably shortly around
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  Speaker 1: there when we started have a real business infrastructure developed,
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  Speaker 1: and uh, the the leaders of that of that time
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  Speaker 1: decided that they wanted to make sure that if you
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  Speaker 1: were going to set up companies in Bermuda, there had
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  Speaker 1: to be access to know who was a part of
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  Speaker 1: those companies and what type of business they've done. Um.
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  Speaker 1: And it's unbelievable the vision that they had to do
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  Speaker 1: something like that, because today in two thousand and sixteen,
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  Speaker 1: other jurisdictions are still looking through basic scenarios of what
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  Speaker 1: they will do. There's been a lot of oppression from
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  Speaker 1: the UK and from European Union countries to have other
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  Speaker 1: countries developed some things like this, and we said, look,
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  Speaker 1: we have a model here that works, uh, and we've
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  Speaker 1: continued to tweak it as we've gone forward. So for example, UM,
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  Speaker 1: my colleague, the Deputy Perium and the Minister of Financing myself,
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  Speaker 1: we're in the UK and November UH and with the
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  Speaker 1: heightened oversight to try to deal with corruption and the
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  Speaker 1: farious activity, and we met with the National Crime Agency
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  Speaker 1: there and he said, look, you know, we've never turned
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  Speaker 1: down a request for information or for people to see
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  Speaker 1: the books. Obviously, you know you have to protect the
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  Speaker 1: privacy of some things, but we need to know what's
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  Speaker 1: going on. And so we told the National Crime Agency
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  Speaker 1: that you know, if you have a request that's legitimate enveloped,
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  Speaker 1: within twenty four hours, you will get the information you need.
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  Speaker 1: And I think that's given us a strong foundation to
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  Speaker 1: build our business because that's what business wants. They want reliability,
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  Speaker 1: they want certainty, and they want to be able to
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  Speaker 1: withstand public scrutiny, which is picking up more and more nowadays.
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  Speaker 1: And I think it's it's only appropriate that it does.
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  Speaker 1: I wonder if you could just speak to the issue
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  Speaker 1: of what goes on domestically, because many people may not
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  Speaker 1: realize that, Uh, you have to deal with the same
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  Speaker 1: issue that every country deals with. Spending on education, UH,
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  Speaker 1: spending on housing, health care, sixty to sixty five thousand
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  Speaker 1: people g d P, I think of around six billion.
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  Speaker 1: Is that just a little okay further south and that,
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  Speaker 1: But it's it's growing, right, and and as it grows,
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  Speaker 1: you have to fulfill the promises that that the people
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  Speaker 1: want to want kept tell us about the mix of
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  Speaker 1: businesses and what you're trying to do here, because I
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  Speaker 1: understand that, for example, many of the tourists that come
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  Speaker 1: now come on the cruise ship, and that that's great,
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  Speaker 1: but how do you grow all that. I have to
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  Speaker 1: say that it's it's hard for me to concentrate when
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  Speaker 1: I'm sitting at this wonderful thing. We did that on
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  Speaker 1: per in Elbow Beach and then looking at at the
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  Speaker 1: at so many different colors of the water and UM,
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  Speaker 1: but I think I can collect my thoughts enough to
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  Speaker 1: answer that question for you. UH. And it is Friday afternoon,
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  Speaker 1: so you've got our own wine sometime. UM at this
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  Speaker 1: point in time are our foundation is international business. We're
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  Speaker 1: heavy reliant on that. We've found um some good growth
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  Speaker 1: and strength over the years. Recent changes to the industry
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  Speaker 1: have seeing mergers and acquisitions and their rates have been
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  Speaker 1: dampened a bit. You're talking about the reinsurance, the reinsurance,
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  Speaker 1: the reinsurance industry. But we did for me to still
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  Speaker 1: the third largest reinsurance destination insurance destination in the world,
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  Speaker 1: and we're proud of that with our size, and we
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  Speaker 1: continue to work very closely with the industry to make
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  Speaker 1: sure uh that this is the place that they want
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  Speaker 1: to be and this is the place that they want
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  Speaker 1: to do their business from and grow. And we have
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  Speaker 1: a strong relationship with them. And also the regulation, the
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  Speaker 1: regulator in Bermuda, the b m A, who do a
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  Speaker 1: fantastic job tourism. I guess is we're from a first
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  Speaker 1: put its footprint back in the fifties I think we
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  Speaker 1: were probably one of the four runners of the modern
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  Speaker 1: era of tourism, uh with furnace, with the built the
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  Speaker 1: old Castle Harbor Hotel, and the cruise ships will come
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  Speaker 1: in and drop people off, and the golf courses who
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  Speaker 1: have built it at uh what's now Tuckers Point and
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  Speaker 1: what still is mid Ocean UM. And so we were
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  Speaker 1: the four runner of the vibrant cruise industry. And over
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  Speaker 1: time UH that has changed. Uh. We now, I believe,
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  Speaker 1: are on a nice resurgence with tourism. We've got a
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  Speaker 1: number of exciting properties that are redeveloping and and um
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  Speaker 1: putting them up in a better position. Obviously, Elba Beach
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  Speaker 1: I think is one of the jewels in our crown.
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  Speaker 1: Here in Bermuda, there's redevelopment in the east end with
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  Speaker 1: Desperallas Group and with Mortgage Point, which is gonna build
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  Speaker 1: a rich reserve. Michael Douglas probably just three miles down
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  Speaker 1: the coast here is going to be developing his property,
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  Speaker 1: so that there's a lot going on. Cruise ship visitors
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  Speaker 1: are an important part of that industry UM and Bermuda
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  Speaker 1: is probably one of the top cruise destinations at this
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  Speaker 1: point in time. Because we have developed the facilities for
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  Speaker 1: them to come into the Royal Naval Dockyard, so we
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  Speaker 1: can have two mega ships there at a time and
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  Speaker 1: we typically have four through the whole week. And the
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  Speaker 1: Royal Naval Docker is a really good place to visit
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  Speaker 1: and then we put ferries to go out to support that.
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  Speaker 1: So the government obviously has a big role to play.
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  Speaker 1: And I know that you have a beach vision. You know,
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  Speaker 1: we spoke earlier in the show to Ed Burns, who's
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  Speaker 1: the managing director here at the Double Beach in Bermuda,
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  Speaker 1: and Ed has been affiliated. Now what a very dynamic
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  Speaker 1: experienced hotel development professional. Who's who's come in? Did Bermuna
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  Speaker 1: fall behind for a while? Does Bermuda have catching up?
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  Speaker 1: Are you having to like like let the world know
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  Speaker 1: again what's going on here? No doubt we we did
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  Speaker 1: fall beyond um And I think it's probably twofold one
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  Speaker 1: is you know, we might have taken our eye off
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  Speaker 1: the ball and had other opportunities that were in front
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  Speaker 1: of us. And I also think, you know, in all
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  Speaker 1: reality is that the world has really focused more on
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  Speaker 1: tourism and destinations at ten fifty and twenty years ago,
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  Speaker 1: never happened um and so while we were we were
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  Speaker 1: still in the game and tourism uh, and we were
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  Speaker 1: concentrating to some other real growth opportunities. It's it's like
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  Speaker 1: a champion if if if you're the world champions um
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  Speaker 1: of basketball or football, whatever, it's always hard to stay
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  Speaker 1: in that position because people want to attain that. And
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  Speaker 1: even though we you know, we live in paradise and
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  Speaker 1: we've got so much going for us in the tourism industry,
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  Speaker 1: as I'm sure Mr Burns knows as as a great professional,
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  Speaker 1: is that every year you have to reevaluate your product.
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  Speaker 1: And that's what we're trying to do in Bermuda. Now
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  Speaker 1: we've we've looked at our product. We're trying to give
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  Speaker 1: the experience so we can appeal to the traveler of
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  Speaker 1: today that we want to get in Bermuda that has
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  Speaker 1: a disposable income. We're appealing to the markets where we
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  Speaker 1: have good access to good air airlift from and I
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  Speaker 1: think now we're starting to see that progress. I've talked
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  Speaker 1: about the development and if you take a look at
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  Speaker 1: our first core tourism numbers, we're up about fourteen but
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  Speaker 1: set with good growth. Well, congratulations on that We're so
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  Speaker 1: happy you joined us today. This is the premiere of Bermuda.
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  Speaker 1: You've been listening to the honorable Michael Dunkley as we
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  Speaker 1: continue our live broadcast from Elbow Beach, Bermuda. Kathleen Hayes
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  Speaker 1: taking stock, Bloomberg Radio m