Few people turned out last night at a meeting to discuss concerns over the training of Bermudians in the tourism industry and the uncertain future of the Stonington Hotel student facility at Bermuda College.

But, despite the low turn out, discussions did begin about where the Island's holiday industry needed to go and how locals could be attracted into the service and a number of innovative suggestions were put forward.

Shadow Tourism Minister David Dodwell was the first to speak at the meeting at the Leopard's Club on Cedar Avenue, which had been arranged by Jenefer Brimmer, who has held senior management positions at Elbow Beach, Sonesta and the Bermuda Department of Tourism. She said it was not the aim of the meeting to lay blame anywhere.

Mr. Dodwell said he believed Bermuda had to start at the primary school level in order to attract new people into the industry. He said Bermuda had to look at the product it offered, instead of spending millions on marketing campaigns.

The future of the Stonington Hotel training facility is unknown, while the college, under its new president Dr. Michael Orenduff and chairman Jan Spiering, try to make it more efficient.

The chairman has talked about the possibility of contracting the management of it out, but that has led to concerns about what kind of training, and the quality of training, it will provide.

But Ms Brimmer has also called for a public inquiry to be held into why the hotel has been allowed to lose so much money for so long.

Last night three employees from Stonington were at the meeting, none of which wanted to be named.

But they said the problem was enticing young people back into the industry, when more money and better benefits were provided in the business sector.

Danika Pereira, 29, was a student at the college between 1996 and 1998, and now works as a chef on the Island.

She said the hotel industry needed to be treated as a profession, wages needed to improve and better training and incentives provided, such as scholarships, internships to overseas hotels and better pay.

She said: "The economy has changed. A 16-year-old boy is not coming out of high school to earn $5 an hour. We have to do it in a way that really encourages people. What about people wanting to change careers on the Island? There are 500 chefs on the Island who are not Bermudian. Why are they not doing courses at night? It would work for single mothers."