Faith-based tourism boss Andre Curtis has one month to boost his visitors numbers to 2,200 for this financial year — or face forfeiting $20,000 of his payout of taxpayers' money.

The total tourists for the first 11 months of 2007-08 is probably no more than 100, according to Opposition MP Wayne Furbert, a well-known member of the church community. Under the terms of his $400,000 contract, Mr. Curtis is required to host ten events, attracting 2,200 tourists to Bermuda, between April 1, 2007, and March 31 this year.

If he fails to convert his target, he must forfeit $20,000.

It is impossible to know how many events he has held or how many tourists he has brought because his answers to questions have been extremely variable — and Premier and Tourism Minister Ewart Brown has consistently refused to answer questions over the initiative.

Mr. Curtis and Dr. Brown both deny faith-based tourism is being used as a method for the Premier to get cash to Mr. Curtis as a thank you gesture for running his Progressive Labour Party constituency in Warwick South Central.

Depending on which of Mr. Curtis' versions of events you believe, last weekend's Women of Vision get-together at the Fairmont Southampton Princess was either the seventh, eighth or ninth on his list. Yesterday, he was unclear about what involvement, if any, he had with that event.

Contacted by The Royal Gazette yesterday, Mr. Curtis said he was in a meeting. Told we were running a story on faith-based tourism, he started talking about Women of Vision, which he said more than 1,000 people had attended, although he did not specify whether any were visitors.

Asked whether he had organised Women of Vision, he replied: "We didn't do too much organising other than hotels." He then said his meeting was really important, promised to call back later and hung up. He never rang back.

Last summer, Mr. Curtis responded to critics of his handling of faith-based tourism by advertising in this newspaper a list of ten events he claimed to have organised.

Women of Vision was listed at number seven. However, he has at various times pointed to two additional events which would now make Women of Vision number nine. One of those extra events was "Weekend Fit For A King", which he claimed took place last September.

However, no records exist for Weekend Fit For A King and, despite numerous requests, neither the Department of Tourism, Dr. Brown nor Mr. Curtis have given any details about it. Mr. Curtis has never provided any information about the other extra event.

Late last year, Mr. Curtis claimed he had lured roughly 1,500 visitors so far this financial year.

After printing his remark, this newspaper received many calls from churchgoers adamant that this was a wild exaggeration.

Mr. Furbert, a vocal critic of Mr. Curtis, yesterday predicted that even now the figure would still be 100 at the most.

Since faith-based tourism became embroiled in controversy, this newspaper has put questions to Dr. Brown on many occasions.

We have consistently been told he will answer questions through the Parliamentary process.

With Parliament not sitting because of the summer and the General Election campaign, he has exercised his right to avoid answering any questions.

The Royal Gazette's A Right To Know: Giving People Power campaign is calling for Government and other public bodies to answer questions about their activities unless they have sound and irrefutable reasons not to.

Dr. Brown has declined to comment on our campaign, other than to say the plan to introduce public access to information has never been derailed, delayed or deferred and that it was always intended for it to be in this month's Budget.

However, Press Secretary Glenn Jones responded to our latest round of questions by saying: "The proper course of action is for the Minister of Tourism and Transport to first answer the Parliamentary Questions asked by the Opposition on this matter. He will do so in the House of Assembly."

We replied: "Given the Premier's support for modernising Bermuda's freedom of information laws by introducing public access to information, does he think that the existing system of only answering questions through the Parliamentary process is outdated?

"If so, why has he turned down so many opportunities to answer these questions on faith-based tourism through alternative means over the past several months?"

We received no reply.

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