Bermudian Dendrick Taylor is hoping to persuade Government to let him market the Island using a 207-foot yacht as the showpiece.

Mr. Taylor is planning to buy the $20-million boat Big Roi, which he says will be the main weapon in a total marketing plan he has for Bermuda.

The idea is to use the boat to entertain and reward overseas travel agents who sell Bermuda vacations during the summer.

For the rest of the year, Bermudians in the hospitality industry who have shown outstanding service will enjoy free Caribbean cruises.

Mr. Taylor said his company First Ocean Marketing has put his proposal to Tourism Minister Renee Webb, who has instructed her marketing department to contact him, but he has heard nothing.

He said a corporation in Fort Lauderdale had pledged $2 million if he is allowed to market the Island, and Offshore Nautical in Jersey are also behind the plan.

Mr. Taylor said Government was spending $7 million on marketing with little success and he wants some of that money siphoned to himself because he believes he can do the job better.

"I believe we have the most exciting national tourism plan, the only one that offers to Government something that covers every sector in the country, including international business," he told The Royal Gazette.

"We have our own agenda on how to market Bermuda for tourism and Big Roi is the platform we will be using throughout the year.

"All this now hinges on Government, on whether they want it, because we can do it.

"I get sent to the Tourism marketing department and I don't mind working with them, but they can't tell us how to run our plan.

"They have a problem with that approach and I say 'You have been doing this for 20 years and failing, so why should I follow what you want'.

"If the Minister seems interested in pursuing this project we have to wait on her until she gets all her ducks in a row.

"The Minister gave me a letter in 2002 instructing her marketing department to get in touch with me, but the marketing department has never got in touch with me.

"We are competing against other marketing companies. We've got one marketing company that gets $7 million a year and we could take that or a lesser budget and start to implement our programme to start to make Bermuda more exciting."

Mr. Taylor, who said he was worked for 30 years in hotels such as the Bermudiana, Horizons, Holiday Inn, and the Coral Island complex, said he had been working on his plan for 20 years.

He was reluctant to go into details, but said the plan involved incentives for travel agents and people on the Island.

Big Roi would also be used to give seminars to Bermudians emphasising the central importance of tourism to the economy, and there would be initiatives to reduce crime and promote sport.

Under his plan, he said the Island was split into three areas, which would each earn $2.5 million over the course of his five year plan.

The boat, which he said was less than two years old, returned to Bermuda on Sunday after developing rudder problems as it headed to the Azores before going to Denmark where it was to be checked as part of the sale guarantee. He said he was in the process of buying the boat, which is registered in the Cayman Islands, from an American owner.

Ms Webb is off the Island, but Acting Tourism Minister Neletha Butterfield said yesterday: "If Mr. Taylor could send me some follow-up information, I would be happy to look into it with the appropriate person at the department."