It is looking increasingly unlikely that Bermuda will take part in a controversial $16 million marketing campaign to promote the Caribbean in the United States in the wake of September 11, The Royal Gazette has learned.

Premier Jennifer Smith said in December that the Island was wrangling with the Caribbean Community (Carico) over how much Bermuda should pay and that it reserved the right to pull out if it was not happy with the adverts.

Tourism Minister David Allen told The Royal Gazette this week that campaign was supposed to have been launched in November, but the creative work had still not been produced and that it now looked more likely to kick off in March.

"Things are moving very slowly. Unless it gets off the ground soon it is going to miss the window of opportunity and Bermuda still has several conditions to be met," he said.

"There is still a question of whether Bermuda will be involved but as time moves on, unless things speed up quickly, we're looking less likely to be involved."

The campaign is being run by the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) and the Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA), to which Bermuda belongs.

Caricom, of which Bermuda is not a member, has agreed to pay $4 million towards the campaign, but there is uncertainty about how much non-Caricom CTO members should contribute.