After nearly two years without a permanent Director of Tourism William 'Billy' Griffith believes it is time to refocus the Department's energies to the task at hand — getting visitors on the Island.

Mr. Griffith, was formerly general manager of the Harmony Club and Belmont hotel. More recently, he served as president of Bermuda Resort Hotels.

Since his appointment was announced by Tourism Minister Ewart Brown in September, Mr. Griffith has devoted his efforts to restructuring and refocusing the Department.

In his first major interview since taking the post, Mr. Griffith outlined his vision for the Department of Tourism: "I have four core aims at the moment. One, rebuilding the organisation with full involvement from the entire team.

"Two, adapting to the rapidly changing tourism business model with more Internet-driven strategies. Three, continuing with the drive to increase the tourism product on the Island. And four, ensuring that we are market driven and creating strategies based on what the customer wants."

Mr. Griffith said he believed things were well underway already, and that the restructuring of the New York tourism office is going well.

"Our old model concentrated heavily on travel agents," he said. "But over the last 10 years almost half of the US travel agents have disappeared. We're focusing more now on reaching out directly to our customers, by the Internet and through advertisements. We still have people working with travel agents but that is not our main focus."

And while the current economic turmoil has caused many Americans to forgo vacations and try and sit out what is expected to be a painful recession, Mr. Griffith said Bermuda continues to hold its own and he remains optimistic.

"We have been able to maintain most of our air service – which many of our competitors cannot say," he said. "We have lost our usual seasonal flights, but they have indicated they will be back next summer. Other than that we have not lost many flights, unlike other islands."

Mr. Griffith added that the Department was actively looking to find a replacement for Zoom, the low-cost UK-based airline which went out of business in August, but would not say who they were courting.

"We believe that the UK market still shows some signs of resilience. British Airways continues to have good loads. Loosing Zoom was a big blow, but the arrivals have not dropped as a result. But we are actively seeking a long term replacement for Zoom."

And he said the Department was working with a wide variety of people to brainstorm ways to attract visitors during the economic downturn.

"We plan to maximise our exposure for (Bermuda's) 400th anniversary next year," he said. "We've already sat down with many hoteliers and others involved and we are hoping we will be able to capitalise on that. We want it to have a lot of PR and to use that to our advantage.

"There will be many things that involve the theme 400. For example, visitors in the first quarter (January to March) will get a "Compliments of Bermuda" voucher valued at $200 — $400.

"We are also very excited about our involvement in the 2009 Atlantic Tall Ships' Race and we will be marketing it."

Like Dr. Brown, Mr. Griffith believes Bermuda must increase its bed count and upgrade its hospitality properties in order to revitalise the industry. But Mr. Griffith says the focus should be on smaller properties as well as big properties.

"A lot of people are focusing on the big hotel developments," he said. "But I think Bermudians need to invest in hospitality, we need smaller establishments as well. We need more bed and breakfasts and small hotels. I think Bermudians need to be investing in Bermuda's hospitality industry.

"Bermuda has been voted the best island in the Caribbean by Conde Nast for the last 14 years. That is not a concocted list, that is based on the votes of people who come here. And I think if you look at the type of people who read Conde Nast, they don't stay in the larger hotels normally. They stay in small properties and boutique hotels — that is what we need more of."

And Mr. Griffith said he did not believe the looming economic recession was necessarily a problem when it came to investing in large or small properties: "Everyone is different, there are some projects still going ahead. Look at Tucker's Point, look at Newstead, look at The Reefs, they have all just finished or are continuing on with major construction. I wouldn't want to say that now is not the time to invest because everyone has their different reasons and (is) in a different situation."

Speaking of a 10.5 percent budget cut Finance Minister Paula Cox recommended to Government Ministries across the board last week, Mr. Griffith said the Department of Tourism already cut its budget by 10 percent last year, and hoped they would not have to reduce their budget by more this coming year.

"In this industry it isn't always a good idea to hunker down and stop spending when the economy is not doing well," he said. "Destinations that do that don't seem to weather the storm as well as those who continue to invest in the industry."

Mr. Griffith, who is a father of three, has a firm understanding of the tourism industry – he served as president of the Hotel Employers of Bermuda, chairman of the Bermuda Hotel Association marketing committee and president of the Bermuda Hotel Association. He also sat on the board of governors at the Bermuda College, was chairman of the Stonington Beach Hotel Committee, a member of the Board of Tourism and co-chair of the Bermuda Alliance for Tourism.

And while he admits he has had to hit the ground running with issues such as turmoil in the world economy and strife in the New York office, he said he is optimistic: "I'm just focusing on getting the job done. People love to come to our Island and we are working hard to attract more people here."