Sustainable development, housing, tourist accommodation and the concept of a nation state were among the topics under discussion at a BEST meeting last night.

Up to 100 people packed a lecture hall at Bermuda College to discuss 'Tourism and Sustainability: Potential, Possibilities and Pitfalls'.

Bermuda Environmental and Sustainability Taskforce (BEST) chairman Stuart Hayward was joined by fellow panelists Philip Barnett, Alex DeCouto, Martha Dismont, Peter Everson, Arthur Hodgson, Cordell Riley, Craig Simmons, Mike Winfield and Leo Mills, who also acted as moderator.

Arthur Hodgson gave the audience an update on the Government's Sustainable Development Strategy and Implementation Plan. As chairman of the Sustainable Development Roundtable, he has been responsible on advising Government as to the blueprint.

Mr. Hodgson said: "As a result of the public feedback, we found the Plan was not quite where it could be, because it left out sections and said very little about health, education and timelines.

"At the moment the Plan is being amended to include these sections.

"The Plan is there, it has been before Cabinet and the Cabinet has endorsed it.

"At the moment we have employed a firm to identify yardsticks by which to measure progress - indicators, and that is being worked on as we speak."

Mr. Hodgson added: "The Premier has decided he is going to engage a so-called expert to provide us with some kind of timing to slow down the economy so we can prioritise the needs of the economy."

Members of the public also asked the panel of economists, sustainable development and tourism experts as to why hotel development on the Island is increasingly featuring 'fractional' suites.

Mike Winfield, chairman of Bermuda Hotel Association, said that this was a growing global trend.

"Hotel development around the world is decreasing all the time. What is happening is fractional development, which is some kind of residential development as opposed to hotel use," he said.

"The reason for that is it returns capital to the hotel and assists in building costs that have now become prohibitive. It is now impossible in Bermuda and elsewhere around the world to build a hotel without capital return.

"That is why Tucker's Point and so many others are doing residential."