Bermuda's main market -- the well-heeled traveller -- has gone, a visiting British travel expert told a Government forum on tourism last night.

Mr. Jonathan deRin, here on business, said it was high time Bermuda started looking at other travel markets such as gambling and the billion-dollar eco-tourism industry.

"Bermuda is in serious trouble. It has come out of the comfort zone and into an unknown market,'' he said.

It was also revealed at the forum there was growing evidence Bermuda's thriving cruise ship industry was eating up lucrative air arrivals.

Singled out as an example was the new St. George's ship Royal Majesty which sails out of Boston.

Tourism Ministry statistical and research officer Mr. Cordell Riley said a study of US North-East air arrivals showed they began dipping when the Royal Majesty made her debut in May.

And air arrivals from New England continued to plunge over the summer, finishing several percentage points below the previous year.

"One might wonder if the cruise market is competing for the air visitor,'' Mr. Riley said, noting it did "very well'' this year.

"While there appears to be a correlation between the arrival of the Royal Majesty and a decline in air arrivals from the North-East, causality it does not prove,'' he said.

Mr. Riley said a study of Royal Majesty passengers to see if they switched from an air visit or if they came solely because of the cruise ship "has not been ruled'' out by Tourism. He did not say what the consequences of such a survey could be.

Mr. Riley was the main speaker at the forum, the second in the Bermuda College Colloquium Series. His topic was taking an inward look at the tourism industry.

After an overview of how the local tourism industry was doing, from the booming 1980s through the "write-off'' recession years up until now, he asked the "disappointing'' nine people who turned out for the forum, "Is there anything wrong with it?'' He said that by working with models he had predicted 1994 air arrivals would finish just 4.4 percent ahead of last year.

Several people suggested better promotion of Bermuda's environmental attractions and other "niche'' markets such as African Americans and sports and scuba diving.

Questions about whether Bermuda had allowed in too many cruise ships were also raised.

Mr. Riley responded, "I think we are probably just at the limit as to what we can handle.'' Mr. Riley admitted Tourism "hadn't done much'' in the area of eco-tourism.

Tourism director Mr. Gary Phillips, in the audience, said it was a "niche market'' that "will not get tens of thousands of visitors coming to Bermuda for eco-tourism''. "Bermuda is not and will never be a Costa Rica,'' he said.

However, Mr. deRin argued Bermuda had to much offer in the area of eco-tourism. It had a "large marine sanctuary'' that was apparently forgotten about, "a Biostation that's half asleep'' and an underwater museum proposal "Dr. Saul is trying to build'', he said.

Mr. deRin, who works for Kapok International and recently attended a world travel conference, said, "Eco-tourism is a huge business worth billions and you can exploit it without the tourists having to live in log cabins...'' He said the Bermuda Government Commission on Competitiveness in its final report had implied Bermuda's exclusive market had disappeared -- "moved on'' to more trendier destinations such as Aruba and Egypt where modern new hotels were being erected.

"It seems to me you don't want to address the mass market,'' he told Mr.

Phillips.

Another person suggested Aruba, which was not particularly beautiful, was seeing a boom in tourism because of its casinos.

"Why not casinos here?,'' he asked.

Mr. Phillips said Tourism had looked into the issue and found they were not wanted by visitors in general.