Government backbencher Wayne Perinchief has thrown his support behind enormous cruise liners visiting the Island in an effort to boost business for small traders.

He told Parliament on Friday that he believed the megaships, such as the Carnival Triumph which has visited for the last three weekends, should be permitted to come to Bermuda for regular short stays.

The outspoken Mr. Perinchief said he believed many Bermudians had benefited from extra business created by the Triumph in the past few weeks, which has brought more than 3,000 passengers to the Island and about 1,000 crew on each trip.

He said: "Generally speaking, I believe the arrivals of Carnival Triumph have actually become a template if we plan for the way forward.

"We can maintain megaships if they are scheduled properly over the weekends. We can maintain megaships to supplement the sagging tourism industry.

"A megaship can come here with 4,000 passengers and crew. Come, have an enjoyable time, and go.

"Where is the biggest employment in this country? It's in the lower end of the economy. We have some Bermudians who would benefit from that."

Mr. Perinchief said Bermuda may well be looking to bring an elite group of people into the Island, but said their money tended to go to the hotels, where many non-Bermudians were employed and which were largely owned by foreign investors.

But he said no additional overseas workers were needed for the ships, but the passengers would get off and spend their money.

He said he believed Bermuda needed a critical mass of people who would come in and spend their money to help the small business people, such as taxi drivers, store owners, restaurants and bars.

The backbencher said in the past much had been said about cruise ship passengers buying nothing but hamburgers and t-shirts on the Island.

He added: "But a lot of people made a lot of money from people buying hamburgers and t-shirts.

"We have to take care of the ordinary man in the street. We need that critical mass to drive that lower income.

"St. Kitts would be desperate to have megaships there. They are looking forward to the kind of tourism we are turning our nose at."

Concern has been raised in the past over the pollution, noise and crowds that the megaships would bring to Bermuda if they came too often.

It was claimed Bermuda's infrastructure would not be able to cope.

But Mr. Perinchief said he believed Bermuda had proved over the past three weeks that it had the facilities and transport to cope well.

He said with the two new fast ferries, Resolute and Serenity, the Transport Ministry had received no complaints from either residents or tourists unable to get about.

And he said Carnival Triumph management had even said they had been impressed the way the country dealt with the transport situation.

Leader of the Opposition United Bermuda Party (UBP) Dr. Grant Gibbons thanked Mr. Perinchief for speaking out on the issue of tourism and said it was more than he had heard from Tourism Minister David Allen.

And he said the UBP did not oppose megaships, provided there was a balance between air and cruise arrivals.

Dr. Gibbons said: "What we have just heard from Mr. Perinchief is more than we have heard from Mr. Allen on the cruise ship policy for two years.

"We see nothing wrong on this side but there needs to be a balance between hotel and air visitors and cruise ship passengers."

And Dr. Gibbons said people should remember that while cruise ship passengers bring in $40 million a year, air passengers bring in hundreds of millions every year.

And he said while cruise ship passengers might spend some money in restaurants and shops, they did nothing for the hotel owners.

He added: "These cruise ships are entirely self-contained. They don't employ a lot of Bermudians."