Frequent visitors and locals will know much of the information that follows, but for people who haven’t visited before, or those thinking of locating a business here, the following is a primer on how the Island works and how to get the most out of your time from your visit.

Transportation — to and from Bermuda
There are two ways to reach Bermuda: by sea or by air.
A number of cruise lines make Bermuda their port of call. Some travel exclusively to and from Bermuda, plying the route between New York City and the Island every week of the season, which runs from April to November. The well-appointed cruise ships take a day or two to sail to Bermuda, spend a couple of days here, and then sail back to New York, all in just a week. Other cruise ships visit “the Island” (as Bermuda is called by its residents) once a season, perhaps en route to or from other destinations.

Quite a number of people arrive in Bermuda on private boats or ships, coming and going at will as they cruise around the Caribbean waters.

Others fly to Bermuda, or having acquired a taste for the Island on a cruise visit, come back by plane for a longer vacation. Direct flights operate daily to Bermuda in season or year-round (check for details with your travel agent) from Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Charlotte, New York City, Miami, Newark, Philadelphia and Toronto. Flights from other cities are in the offing. Connections into Bermuda can be made easily from just about anywhere in North America.

British Airways operates several flights a week directly to and from London’s Gatwick Airport. Connecting flights to other European and longer-haul destinations are available from London. Zoom offers an intermittent Bermuda service from London, too.

As you’d expect, prices of flights vary depending on the day of the week and the time of the year, so check with your travel agent or online.

Transportation — within Bermuda
Because of Bermuda’s small size, automobiles are strictly limited in Bermuda to one car per household. Being a British territory, the oldest remaining one, we drive on the left. A 20mph speed limit applies throughout the Island, although some of us drive a little faster, so take care when assessing traffic speed.

Our roads are too small and busy to allow us to offer rental cars, but we have efficient public taxi, bus and ferry services which will get you where you need to go, anywhere in Bermuda. We even have horse-drawn carriages for relaxed sightseeing tours around Hamilton, as well as serious fishing vessels you can charter for deep-sea fishing, or just sightseeing.

If you choose, you can rent a moped and get around like most Bermudians do, enjoying the breeze, or “Bermuda air-conditioning”, as we call it. If you do rent a bike, drive slowly and carefully and don’t look over your shoulder: other drivers will respect your right of way.

Of course, Bermuda is best seen on foot. Wander around Hamilton, taking in the shops; walk along our 150 kilometres of road (walk on the side facing the oncoming traffic); follow the path of what was once the Bermuda Railway, now a lovely walking trail; walk the African Diaspora trail that is gaining international attention; or just go for a stroll in one of our National Parks. On foot, or what the British call “Shanks’s Pony”, you’ll have time to see what’s going on. Make sure to stop and smell the oleanders.

Accommodation
Where you choose to stay will depend on the kind of vacation experience you’re looking for.

Bermuda has a range of accommodations from the basic to the five-star. A number of exclusive resort hotels cater to the most demanding tourist tastes at the high standards our international visitors have come to expect. We’re in discussion with a number of new hotels at the top end of the market, too.
There’s a place in Bermuda too for those looking for a quiet, inexpensive getaway. Some of our smaller properties have self-catering facilities. In between, Bermuda offers a host of accommodation choices to satisfy every budget.

Before deciding, take a look at Bermuda on the web. Talk to friends who have been here before and ask them what worked for them, and what didn’t. Choose a hotel or guest house that suits your budget and the type of vacation you’re looking for. Your travel agent, as always, is an invaluable source of information and advice — and may be aware of some of the many deals that are out there to make your vacation a better experience.

Activities
Again, what you choose to do in Bermuda will depend as much on you as it does on the Island.
Some of our visitors are looking for the quiet life, which Bermuda has in abundance. The beaches are gorgeous, and as you may have heard, we have pink sand on many of our beaches, particularly along the South Shore. The pink colour comes from the coral reef just off the Island. Most of our hotels have swimming pools, and restaurants and bars.

Quite a few people come to Bermuda to “do nothing”. If that’s what you’re looking for, there is no better place in the world. No one will hassle you and the weather is pretty good all year round. If it rains this morning, don’t be depressed; it will probably be nice this afternoon.

Some come to Bermuda to shop, and for them we have an interesting range of retail possibilities, with goods from all over the world. Front Street, Reid Street and Court Street offer different shopping experiences and opportunities, and each has its own flavour. Shopping is a relaxed business here. We don’t go in for the hard sell.

Those looking for nightlife will find it in Bermuda, with discotheques, clubs, live music and more.
The vogue words in travel these days are “cultural tourism”. Bermuda has been in that very business for so long, we didn’t even know it had a special name. The town of St. George’s, for example, is the oldest continuously populated place in the Western hemisphere (founded in 1620) and is a World Heritage site. Despite its outward somnolence, St. George’s and the East End of the Island are full of interesting corners, sport some great beaches and are our secret gem. The pace down at the East End is not markedly different from the way it was almost 400 years ago.

As you’d expect on an island that is rarely as much as a mile wide, the ocean features heavily in our attractions. The Bermuda Aquarium and Zoo, the Bermuda Underwater Institute, the Bermuda Maritime Museum — you get the idea.

The City of Hamilton
The town of Hamilton was founded on 30 June 1793 and became Bermuda’s capital in January 1815, about six months before Napoleon met his Waterloo. What has subsequently become the City of Hamilton is small, with a resident population of about 1,200, and an average daytime population nearer 15,000, including many of our visitors. We welcome more than half a million visitors to our shores each year, and most of them visit Hamilton during their trip.

The City is a port, through which flow both human and containerised cargos. The centre of the city comprises about half a dozen blocks square. The majority of Bermuda’s international business takes place in Hamilton, putting everything the business person needs within a few blocks’ walking distance. Hamilton’s relatively small size — 177 acres in total — allows for a remarkably intense focus on business and its successful execution.
Hamilton offers some great shopping, and all kinds of cultural experiences. The City is safe, but you should be aware of your surroundings and where your valuables are. It’s not that they’ll be stolen — they almost certainly won’t — but in the relaxed mood that pervades Hamilton, you might leave things behind. Walking alone at night is not a good idea, partly because you will be the only one doing it.

The City has any number of restaurants. Italian food is best represented, but Chinese, French, Mexican, Middle Eastern, West Indian and — of course — Bermudian cuisine are all easy to find in “town”, as we confusingly call the city. Local fish is usually available, and well worth trying.

For culture, the annual Bermuda Festival is held in January and February and the Bermuda International Film Festival in May. The Island becomes a hub of creativity when the Bermuda Music Festival takes place in September. The City is home to several drama societies and boasts three fine dance schools and several schools of music. Displays of dance, music and drama are staged regularly at City Hall and other venues.
Hamilton also has two movie theatres showing first-run movies at the same time as they are seen on the U.S. Eastern Seaboard. Two other movie theatres are at the ends of the Island, in St. George’s and Dockyard.
In Hamilton, within a few blocks of each other, are dozens of the world’s largest insurance and reinsurance companies, mutual funds, insurance brokers, underwriters, lawyers, accountants, actuaries and international trading companies. We have only four banks, but they are equipped to handle any kind of international business transaction.

Owning a Bermuda home
For many people, the idea of owning a home in Bermuda would be the last word in luxury. The problem is, we only have so much land (about 22 square miles) and they’re not making any more of it. So we have a rule that says that Bermuda houses can only be owned by Bermudians. Many condominium developments and some time-share and fractional apartments are available for non-Bermudian ownership, all of which our realtors would be happy to show you. If you are thinking of owning property in Bermuda, a local realtor is your best friend.

Doing business in Bermuda
Bermuda remains a synonym for prestige and stands unchallenged as the world’s premier tourist destination. Its friendly people are equally renowned. And the physical beauty of the island continues to set it apart from most other holiday spots. But in every corner of the world, Bermuda’s business industry, and most specifically its insurance sector, now rank right up there alongside the Island’s traditional charms.

The international offshore company was invented on the Island in 1935 and more than 15,000 offshore companies and partnerships now call Bermuda home. The Island’s international business industry is a little like an exclusive club. The great majority of the Fortune 100 largest companies in the United States have businesses on the Island. Along with business travellers arriving and departing on the commercial flights, private jets ferry business people in and out of Bermuda 24 hours a day. The Island has become a hub for business interests around the globe.

Bermuda’s rise in international business would not have been possible if the Island had not developed a sophisticated infrastructure, a pool of talented and willing people, and a “can do” attitude that makes doing business in Bermuda just about as easy as doing business anywhere in the world. Everything the business person needs can be found without difficulty in the City of Hamilton.

Business in Bermuda is conducted much like any other relationships. The Island’s small size makes reputation as important as financial capacity. Here, a man’s (or a woman’s) word is still his bond, and we will not tolerate dishonesty of any kind.

Investment holding companies form the largest single group of companies on the Bermuda register. They represent about one-third of the companies on the Register.

The second largest category of Bermuda “exempted” companies — i.e. companies that are exempt from the rule that at least 60 percent of their share capital must be owned by Bermudians — is made up of insurance companies. This group, a few hundred of which have offices on the Island, makes the biggest contribution to the local economy. Bermuda, believe it or not, is one of the world’s three largest insurance centres, the others being London and New York. Not bad for an island with just 65,000 inhabitants!

Bermuda insurers and reinsurers cover a complete variety of risks, with specialisations in the areas of property and catastrophe, excess liability, professional insurance and “captive” (i.e. self-insurance) companies. A small but growing number of companies underwrites life reinsurance. More than 200 other Bermuda-based companies are insurance brokers and insurance management companies.
Other types of companies well represented on the register include: commercial trading companies; management companies and consultants; mutual funds; natural resource management companies; and shipping interests. In addition to companies, trusts, settlements and partnerships can be established in Bermuda.

Just about the only thing you can’t do in Bermuda is to set up a business to operate inside Bermuda. We like to keep that small part of the business world to ourselves, as you might expect. The way we phrase it is that you can do almost any kind of business from Bermuda (other than pornography, gambling or other less savoury practices), but you can’t do business in Bermuda.

Accountants
More than 650 men and women hold down accounting positions in Bermuda that require formal training and qualification, and perhaps three times as many people work as bookkeepers and auditors, or in other support positions.

The major public accounting firms are all represented on the Island. Some are headquartered here. Each of our larger firms is associated with one of the major international accounting practices worldwide. Smaller partnerships and sole practitioners are also thick on the ground.

More than half the accountants in Bermuda are expatriates, working on temporary permits, usually for two or three years. The large firms cycle their staff, Bermudian and expatriate, though various worldwide offices.
Bermuda law requires company financial statements to be drawn up according to the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) of any of the major countries. American, Canadian and British GAAP are among the most widely used by Bermuda companies.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bermuda is affiliated with its Canadian counterpart. Other branches of the profession are also well represented in Bermuda.

Attorneys
Bermuda has a disproportionately large legal community, and offers a range of services no other community of our size anywhere in the world could begin to match.

Bermuda has several major law firms, offering a range of services that extends far beyond mere advice. Supporting the lawyers are batteries of qualified Chartered Secretaries, litigators and professionals in related fields, from drafting a will to setting up the affairs of the largest international companies. International law is as widely practiced as Bermuda law.

Many Bermuda firms are members of international legal organisations. That way, if a client has multi-national needs, the Bermuda firms can liaise with attorneys of equally high standing anywhere in the world.

The larger Bermuda law firms have their own in-house trust and administration companies, and provide a complete range of trustee and administrative services.

Banking
Bermuda has four licenced banks. The Bank of Bermuda and The Bank of Butterfield are both more than 100 years old — Butterfield, the oldest, celebrates its 150th anniversary in 2008. The Bank of Bermuda was purchased a few years ago by HSBC, the world’s largest bank by market capitalisation, and HSBC Bank of Bermuda is becoming the focus of HSBC’s worldwide trust operations.

Our other two banks are smaller, and serve different markets. Capital G offers a broad range of banking services and is forming partnerships with other financial institutions to broaden its appeal. Bermuda Commercial Bank, established about 30 years ago, limits itself to corporate business.

The four licenced banks have balance sheet assets of almost $20 billion, small by international standards, but growth for its own sake has never been a goal in Bermuda. The banks also hold off-balance sheet assets worth well over $150 billion, under custodial arrangements.

The banks’ scale is limited by the size of Bermuda’s retail market, the careful rate at which Bermuda grows its business sector, and Bermudian law. The banks are continuing an outward expansion that has allowed them to be quoted on overseas exchanges.

The Bermuda banks maintain international offices around the world, in many other offshore jurisdictions, as well as in New York, Hong Kong and London, England. With decades of service, the banks have developed a remarkable degree of sophistication and experience.

Bermuda banks also maintain families of offshore mutual funds, and each offers diverse account services. Bank of Bermuda, through its affiliation with HSBC, is part of a global network. Butterfield has adopted a strategy of expansion in the Caribbean.

Bermudian investment houses operate alongside the banks, offering all the services a local bank or stockbroker might offer. The largest of these, Lines Overseas Management, is also represented in several other offshore jurisdictions.

Bermuda is also home to a number of overseas banks that service their international clientele from Bermuda, with well-known names such as Lombard Odier and Schroders.

If you’re thinking of doing business from Bermuda, drop in to one of the local banks and ask to talk to someone. You’ll find a warm welcome. Most other countries require you to tell them if you open an account in a country other than your own, but there can be advantages to operating a business from Bermuda.

Business meetings and conferences
Bermuda is one of the best places in the world to hold a business meeting, whether it’s a board meeting to plan strategy, or a sales conference with 1,000 people.

We have destination management companies and convention and tour planners who will help you plan every detail of your Bermuda meeting. These orgnaisations are well versed at providing the right atmosphere for your event. They’ve been doing it for a long time, and routinely assist many of the largest companies in the world to make their conventions and meetings a success.

Computer consultants
Bermuda probably has more computers per inhabitant than any other country in the world. Internet connections, mostly broadband, reach throughout the business community and are widely used in homes throughout the Island. As you would expect, a considerable industry has grown up to support the Island’s individual and corporate computer users.

A number of suppliers sell and service the familiar brand names, such as IBM, Dell, Compaq, HP, Gateway and others. Some dealers have rights to sell and repair particular brands, while other firms cover a range of services for almost any machine. Bermuda is as up-to-the-minute on the computer scene as the most advanced cities in the world.

The Bermuda College and other education facilities offer a range of “how-to” courses to help beginners and advanced users learn every aspect of computers.

Corporate communications
About two dozen advertising agencies, graphics firms and corporate communications consultants operate in Bermuda. Several are affiliated with the largest global firms.

Women dominate this service industry in Bermuda. Several of the corporate communications companies in Bermuda are owned and managed by groups of extraordinarily creative women.

International insurers
About 400 of Bermuda’s 1,500 insurance companies maintain a physical presence on the Island, almost all of them in Hamilton. Surrounding them are most of the Island’s other business ventures and the myriad companies who supply services to them and to the international business world beyond Bermuda’s shores.

Local insurance companies
A number of local insurers thrive alongside the international sector, providing insurance directly to the Bermuda market, which the international companies are not permitted to do.

The Bermuda insurers are long-established companies, in business for decades, providing a complete range of coverage. Car, bike and boat insurance is available, as is real estate and commercial coverage. A full range of commercial insurance is also offered, including life insurance, health, dental and disability insurance for employees and public liability and other workplace coverages.

Bermuda’s remote location requires local insurers to offer special services such as hurricane insurance, but they also offer a range of investment products and services such as pension management and administration.
The larger local insurers have subsidiary companies that provide management services to international insurance companies. The management companies allow overseas companies to operate their own captive insurers in Bermuda, with local administration reliably managed by a Bermuda company with substantial experience.

Owning a Bermuda company
Bermuda’s advantages include the regulatory, legal and fiscal framework; an excellent infrastructure; our location at the crossroads of Europe, Africa and North and South America; support services; political stability; a friendly and professional workforce; and relatively low, or “neutral” taxation.

Bermuda’s regulatory framework is minimal and flexible, while conforming to, or exceeding, the highest international standards. In the past few years, Bermuda has been given a clean bill of health by the OECD, the Financial Action Task Force, the United Nations, the British Government and a host of other international bodies.

The current legal and fiscal system is based on English law. The absence of burdensome restraints imposed by complex legal and regulatory frameworks sometimes found in other centres allows for a streamlined and speedy application process when new companies are being formed. But don’t mistake our friendly manner for a lack of interest. Those who want to form businesses here are closely monitored and are asked to prove their bona fides and maintain high standards in their operations.

An excellent telecommunications network and transportation facilities link Bermuda directly with just about every other country around the world. The network comprises telephone, facsimile, satellites, telexes and other similar services. We have broadband access to the Internet, and your hotel will almost certainly be able to connect you. If you’re out and about, and want to check your e-mail, or just go surfing, Hamilton and St. George’s have Internet cafés, too.

Being one hour ahead of the Eastern Seaboard, four hours behind the United Kingdom, and seven to 12 hours behind the Middle East and Far East countries enables Bermuda to offer itself as an excellent location for operating international businesses. With its easy access by air to most international centres, and its appeal as a sub-tropical paradise where its people are well used to catering to overseas visitors, Bermuda is the place to hold business meetings.

Bermuda is politically, economically and socially stable, ensuring a favourable environment in which to conduct business. We’re committed to maintaining Bermuda’s integrity as an international offshore financial centre, and to keeping up our reputation of providing exceptionally high standards.

No income taxes, withholding tax, capital gains tax, capital transfer tax, estate duty or inheritance taxes are payable in Bermuda. A Bermuda exempted company may, under current policy, apply to the Bermuda Government for an exemption from paying any taxes until 2016, should taxes be imposed on corporate activities after the company is incorporated.

We do levy import duties on goods to be sold in Bermuda. We also have payroll taxes and all manner of other relatively small contributions that working people must make, but for visitors, the only applicable taxes are a departure tax (usually rolled up into your ticket or cruise ship cost), and a levy charged on hotel rooms.

Real estate
Bermuda has about 24,000 occupied dwellings, which include studio apartments, huge mansions on private islands, and pretty much everything in between.

Not just anyone can buy a home in Bermuda. Most of the housing is reserved for Bermudians; after all, we live here. Bermuda’s property tax system (called Land Tax) allows only certain homes to be sold to non-Bermudians. In practice, that means that only condominium, time-share and fractional ownership apartments are available to foreign buyers.

Anyone may rent a home in Bermuda. Rents are expensive, for a variety of reasons. Because a percentage of Bermuda’s workers are foreigners working temporarily in Bermuda on permits, the demand for housing is severe. Monthly rents vary across a wide range. Lately, the construction of homes has not been able to keep pace with demand, further elevating rentals in the residential market.

More than 50 real estate companies operate in Bermuda. Some of the larger agencies cover the entire market, while a number of specialist firms concentrate on sections of the market. Rentals and sales are advertised in the daily and weekly newspapers.

Telecommunications
Bermuda has been connected to the outside world by direct cable for more than 100 years. The Island is undergoing a continuing revolution in the provision of telecommunications service as industry deregulation proceeds.

Two long-distance servers now compete. Cable & Wireless, the British giant, which is particularly strong in the mid-Atlantic and Caribbean regions, operates via a locally-owned company in Bermuda. It has now been joined by TeleBermuda International, which is constructing a global telecommunications system. Others are vying to join the fray.

Pre-paid telephone calling cards are available, which enable you to make any telephone in Bermuda your own. The cards come in various denominations, and for the regular visitor, there are rechargeable cards. Many people who visit Bermuda buy a card just to keep as a souvenir. Coin-operated telephones are to be found all over the Island.

Domestically, the Bermuda Telephone Company, long the sole provider of local service, is being challenged by several companies who offer a range of cellular services. Bermudians, in part because of the Island’s remoteness, are the world’s most prolific telephone callers. Cell phone usage is as high as anywhere in the world. Everyone, from the chief executives of giant international insurers to teenagers, has a cell phone. The use of BlackBerries and other hand-held equipment is widespread.

Bermuda has several Internet service providers, keeping the Island one of the most interesting places in the world to visit on the World Wide Web. As you’d expect from a technologically sophisticated community, Bermuda is a riot of Web sites and information. The daily newspaper, The Royal Gazette, the bi-weekly Bermuda Sun, and the weekly Mid-Ocean News are published on the Net and accessed daily by Bermuda-lovers everywhere.

Businesses run a variety of intranets and extranets from Bermuda. Larger financial institutions maintain round-the-clock networks, tying their distant locations in to the Bermuda home office. Companies that are subsidiaries of companies overseas are data-linked to their parent company by a variety of means.

Trusts and trustees
The provision and servicing of trusts have for a long time been a core business for Bermuda, where trusts are employed to achieve a variety of personal and business planning objectives.

The trust is a concept developed under English law, in which the owner of assets can transfer title to the custodianship of a trustee, who then uses the assets in the way the original owner has directed. Trusts can be used to make provision for spouses and dependents; to protect assets; to keep taxes to a minimum; to create charities; and to provide pension plans and the like.

A range of trust vehicles is permitted in Bermuda, for all manner of reasons. In most individual circumstances, the beneficiaries of trusts tend to be family members or charities.

Corporate trusts serve a wider range of similarly-grounded needs, and on a larger scale. Bermuda administers the assets of more than 1,400 international mutual funds, whose managers invest, but do not administer, their clients’ pooled capital.

Bermuda has a strong corps of trust service providers, who are licensed and closely regulated by the Bermuda Monetary Authority. The larger law firms own trust companies, staffed by professionals who work on nothing but trust business.

The large accounting firms, which are all linked to their large international counterparts, also provide trustee services. Bermuda’s banks, too, offer a range of trust services — for the banks, trust has long been an important service. The Bermuda Association of Licenced Trustees has been formed to address issues in the trust area and keep members informed of the latest developments.

And finally — relax!
Bermudians are noted for their friendliness. Despite our busy lives, we will find the time to help you if you are nice to us in return. Life here is less of a rat race than it is elsewhere, and some of our visitors are used to the idea that to be heard, they must shout. Not so. We deal much more in honey than we do in vinegar. People here want to help you. All you have to do is ask nicely.