The world has changed and tourism in Bermuda must adapt to those changes, Tourism Minister Ewart Brown announced yesterday.

New consultants and advertising agencies have been brought in, aggressive decisions are being made, and much of the weaponry at Tourism?s disposal remains dedicated to annihilating the so-called ?off-season?.

Potential visitors will be bombarded with taglines such as ?putting distance?, ?feel the love?, ?pop by?, and ?far away from here? in attempts to differentiate Bermuda from other destinations, while a full-scale effort to get the Bermudian back into Tourism will continue.

The cost of getting to Bermuda will be decreased, Government declared, while the quality of the product itself will increase.

That includes service levels, Dr. Brown stated yesterday. ?Visitors expect five star service ... but service standards all over the world have outpaced ours.

?Our people must once and for all distinguish service from servitude.?

And, Dr. Brown said, he plans to do it all within the existing Tourism budget. The new world of Tourism was kicked off with the first quarterly Tourism/media luncheon held at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess yesterday.

?There is no place on God?s earth like our country,? Dr. Brown declared at the luncheon.

In a changing world, however, Bermuda must also make changes in order to keep up.

?You don?t often hear people say that they must change. Difficult as it may be for us to accept, Bermuda Tourism must change.?

Dr. Brown outlined five goals for the industry, developed in conjunction with the Bermuda Alliance for Tourism (BAT):

To increase air arrivals to 400,000 over the next three years

To achieve the daily carrying capacity through effective management

To increase visitor satisfaction by ten percent

To increase the per person visitor spending by seven percent

To increase the efficiency, effectiveness and productivity of the Tourism Department.

Several different tactics will be utilised to achieve those goals, he said. To increase arrivals, Tourism will be operating throughout a number of markets, including the ?feeder market? through hubs like Miami.

For example, the new American Airlines flight from Miami has opened up the route to Bermuda from Los Angeles, Dr. Brown explained. Focus is still being centred on the European market, Germany and Italy in particular. ?Aggressive decisions? regarding flights from Italy are currently being made, Dr. Brown said, with news expected on those decisions before the end of the first quarter of 2005.

Bermuda will have to be adapted to meet target markets, he said. ?We will make the Bermuda product relevant to the target audience.?

Existing events on the Island will be re-evaluated to determine their appeal to target markets. If they no longer appeal, they go, the Minister said, while new events will be developed.

Major world-class sporting events and mass participation events on the Island will be targeted with the help of consultants. And following on from Premier Alex Scott, Dr. Brown confirmed that a brand new convention centre at the National Sports Centre is being planned to support group and convention business. ?The absence of a convention centre is a barrier to growth.?

?Beach and sizzle? will be marketed during the summer while ?Golf and spa? will keep winter arrivals up, eliminating the off-season, Dr. Brown said. Group and incentive travel along with sports and cultural events will supplement arrivals all year.

Yet the hoped-for increase in arrivals must be supported by the Island?s infrastructure, he said. Extending the cruise ship season into March, April and November will be one way to achieve the increases, and a major restructuring of Bermuda?s ports is also planned.

Increasing visitor satisfaction appeared to be directly related to putting the Bermudian back into Tourism. ?Tourists are cultural junkies,? Dr. Brown explained.

The ?pop by? initiative, sponsored by Barritt?s, will involve colourful flags sporting the slogan as an invitation to tourists to mingle with locals. Tourists collecting the ?pop by? flags will receive a free six-pack of ginger beer from Barritt?s.

Events and entertainment outside of hotels is another potential way for tourists to mix with locals, Dr. Brown said.

Getting the Bermudian identity back into Tourism will also involve incentives for Bermudians to join the hotel industry, including a drive for hotels to include staff housing for Bermudians. One hotelier has already received planning permission for just such staff housing, Dr. Brown said. Spreading awareness of the opportunities in Tourism in schools is another priority, while a National Tourism Debate is also planned.

The winner, Dr. Brown said, would be named a Junior Tourism Minister and represent Bermuda at an annual Tourism conference in the Caribbean.

An interactive Tourism talk show is also planned for Hott 107.5. Called ?Wake Up Bermuda ? Tourism Now?, the show will be hosted by Rodman Woolridge. But how did Dr. Brown plan to achieve all this ? and more ? on Tourism?s existing budget?

?We are modifying our business model to effect change,? he said. Resource spending at the Department of Tourism is being re-evaluated, with certain eliminations and shifts being made as needed. For example, within 18 months all sales staff in North America will be home-based, he said, with satellite home offices taking effect in Canada and Boston by March 31, 2005.

That will leave just one central sales office in North America, an office which will also serve as Bermuda?s global hub for sales administration and tour operator management.

Bermudians living abroad, not on the Department of Tourism?s payroll, will also be given incentives to act as ambassadors and get more visitors to come to Bermuda. More information on the Department?s new sales and marketing plan, Dr. Brown said, will be released in the next few weeks.

?It?s not a money problem,? he added. ?If it were a money problem, it would?ve been solved by now. It?s a mindset problem.?

Bermuda, he added, is standing on a spring board staring into a pool, unsure whether to dive or not. But once certain leaders take that first plunge, he promised, the industry will follow.

The Ministry of Tourism and Transport of today cannot be compared to the Tourism Ministries of the past, he added. ?We absolutely cannot look back.?

He called on members of the media to withhold any pessimism ?at least until you reach your car?. ?If we approach it with doom and gloom, it will not work,? he finished.