A PLP Government would ditch the new independent Tourism Authority and take its work back in-house or make it find its own funds, said Opposition leader Marc Bean.

“The current arrangement with the Tourism Authority will change and change immediately,” he said.

He added he was not prepared to go into details of any changes that might be made.

But he promised the authority would either “absorbed back into Government proper” or “truly have it privatised — if your budget is $25 million, go and fund it.”

Mr Bean was speaking as MPs debated the Budget allocation for tourism — which included $23.1 million to fund the new authority.

Tourism Minister Shawn Crockwell told MPs that the new authority, which replaces the Government-run Department of Tourism, was a game-changing advance.

Mr Crockwell said: “I believe it’s historic for Bermuda and I believe it will be the watershed for how tourism is managed and I believe we will see fantastic results going forward.”

He added that the traditional approach to tourism had not produced results in terms of increased visitor numbers to the Island.

Mr Crockwell said: “This is not the fault of any particular Government or any particular Minister, but the Government believes the methodology of how tourism was managed was broken.”