Tourism Minister Renee Webb yesterday told hoteliers and the Opposition to "stop whining" about tourism and become positive about the Island.

She hit out after Shadow Tourism Minister David Dodwell, who owns The Reefs, and Bermuda Hotel Association acting president Michael Winfield, who runs Cambridge Beaches, expressed concern about the third quarter visitor arrival figures for last year.

They showed a modest increase over the third quarter of 2001 when Tourism was devastated by the September 11 attacks from 178,342 to 186,194. Air arrivals, a key barometer for hotels, went up from 87,997 to 91,229. Mr. Winfield said the figures were "disturbing" because the Island had not bounced back as strongly as was needed last year, and Mr. Dodwell branded them as "deeply disappointing".

Speaking to The Royal Gazette yesterday, Ms Webb said: "It is always surprising that those (hoteliers) who are the beneficiaries of Government spending are such whiners and complainers.

"They should be part of the solution rather than whining. The recovery of tourism is not just the goal of Government, it is the goal of hoteliers themselves and they should start being optimistic and thankful (that Government is spending money on tourism).

"If the numbers go up, they should be pleased, even if it is not as large as they wanted or expected, and they can't keep seeing the glass half empty.

"They need to be more optimistic and enthusiastic and they can help improve the tourism product and make people want to come to Bermuda by not every two minutes complaining that the numbers are going down. If I kept going on the Internet and two major hotel owners are complaining about numbers going down, I would be deterred from coming.

"The advantage of the Internet is that people can do research in a few minutes and if every time they click on Bermuda they see this negative publicity from people whining about the numbers going down, I don't think it helps. If I saw that, I would not be inclined to go there."

She said it was ironic that there was so much complaining from hoteliers, when they themselves were investing large sums of money into improving and expanding their properties and benefiting - as Mr. Dodwell and Mr. Winfield - do from successful applications for concessions under the Hotel Concessions Act. "Generally, I think Bermuda is on the way to recovering and I am definitely optimistic when it comes to Bermuda tourism," she continued.

"I think the fact that hotels are investing in infrastructure, and the overall Bermuda product is being improved, will bode well for our ability to attract more tourists to the Island, particularly since we are hoping to get more hotel inventory (beds) on board.

"We have major renovations going on in various hotels, and expansion going on, so it shows that they (hoteliers) have confidence in Bermuda and confidence in Bermuda's ability to improve and grow.

"You always have to look at the overall picture, not just the numbers, when it comes to tourism and what is important is the spending that is going into the economy."