Bermuda Tourism iPhone App

You have to hand it to the Bermuda Tourism Board, it knows how to connect with the tech-savy American tourist—enter the Bermuda Guide iPhone App (I have not found an Android edition yet).

The free app is available from the App Store on iOS devices. Using the iPhone’s location services it can find where you are on the island and suggest nearby activities or eating establishments. The several filterable categories include: activities, beaches, dinning/nightlife, golf, lodging, info centres, spas, and transport. I strongly encourage all visitors to the island to download the app, as long as you do not mind paying the outrageous overseas data charges.

I want talk about the way that the app presents St George’s and the activities that are listed on the app. Just a reminder that this app was commissioned by the Bermuda Tourism Board so this is the official tourism line from Government. What is striking about the places listed in St George’s is the unevenness in which the heritage landscape is listed. The two Bermuda National Trust museum’s: The President Henry Tucker House and the Globe Hotel are listed however some key Heritage sites are left off of the app.

Most notably missing is the World Heritage Centre itself! How can the definitive Tourism app be missing the supposed centre of the ancient capital’s heritage centre??? Still too St Peter’s Church and the State House are missing. Pilot Darrell’s historic home is missing, as well as the Unfinished Church. Of course the beaches are listed prominently on the map! Most especially the Buzz concession at Tobacco Bay. So I guess my real question is WHERE DID THE TOURISM BOARD COME UP THIS LIST?? Clearly all the local stakeholders were not involved in this process!

This app further underscores the fractured and broken nature of Bermuda’s heritage tourism industry most especially in St George’s. If the Government tourist phone app can’t get the plot right then who can?