Attacking tourists is ?suicide? for all Bermudians, Shadow Public Safety Minister Maxwell Burgess said yesterday.

Pleading with those guilty of assaulting several Canadian tourists over the past few days to turn themselves in, Mr. Burgess said that to destroy the perception that Bermuda is a ?safe? place to visit means destroying the livelihoods of thousands of Bermudians.

?This is insanity,? the frustrated MP said.

According to Government statistics released this week, in 2004, the number one reason visitors chose to come to Bermuda was ?personal safety?, with 64 percent of visitors, a strong majority, declaring safety was the most important factor in their choice of Bermuda as a holiday destination.

By 2005 ? just one year later ? that number had sunk significantly to 49 percent, leaving personal safety the third most important factor behind hospitality (55 percent) and seclusion/relaxation (53 percent).

Whether that decrease is indicative of global trends or perception of Bermuda as a safe destination is impossible to determine.

Meanwhile the US State Department?s travel advisory information on Bermuda warns of increasing crime rates and the increasing gang mentality on the Island, advising visitors not to walk around alone at night for fear of thefts and sexual attacks.

?The one thing we?ve been able to keep at a reasonable level is the question of people feeling safe in Bermuda,? Mr. Burgess said yesterday.

?To undermine that is to commit suicide ... Attacks against tourists are attacks against GDP, against the very livelihood of all of us.?

Many in the tourism industry have worked long and hard against tourism?s downslide, he said ? and such attacks threaten their lives as well as those of the visitors themselves, especially with a potential tourism turnaround in sight.

It is impossible to Police the entire Island, he agreed, but Police need to be present in known trouble areas. Such areas include ? Mr. Burgess maintained ? the area of South Shore Road from Henry VIII restaurant past Tio Pepe restaurant and beyond, where four Canadian tourists, including a pregnant woman , were robbed and beaten so violently last week that one had to get a CAT scan.

As for the Canadian woman who was beaten in broad daylight near the Dockyard ferry stop last week, Mr. Burgess said the assailant must be punished ? but that such attackers must also be brought to justice so that they can get the help they need.

?I am begging those persons to turn themselves in, and for anyone, any witnesses, to come forward,? he said.

?We owe it to ourselves and to the guests we invite to our shores.?