defuse a controversy over control of the Island's tour desks, says the chairman of the Tourism Board.

"We need to show everything that we have in this competitive day and age,'' Mr. David Dodwell MP told The Royal Gazette . "Any lost opportunity, or any lost presentation, is not showing everything that we have.'' If providing visitors service and value for money "means finding a way to give a broad cross-section of presentation to people, then I think we've got to do it,'' said Mr. Dodwell.

A long-simmering row between tour boat operators and Bermuda Island Cruises Ltd. has erupted publicly in recent weeks.

Through its own company and an ownership stake in Reef Roamers Ltd., BIC controls five glass bottom boats and motor yachts used for giving visitors tours of Bermuda waters.

BIC also operates the tour desks at six large Bermuda hotels: the Hamilton Princess, the Southampton Princess, Sonesta Beach Hotel, Elbow Beach, Marriott's Castle Harbour, and Grotto Bay Hotel.

Operators like Mr. Joffre Pitman and Mr. Doug Shirley have complained that the desks do not advise visitors of the full range of activities available, steering vistors toward BIC-favoured boats, even when their own boats are requested by name.

A tour boat operators' task force in the report of the Premier's Commission on Competitiveness recommended a Centrex system in hotels, with the cost borne by boat operators. The system involves a comprehensive brochure rack with a telephone or telephones directly linked to operators. Centrex systems are already used in many Bermuda small properties.

BIC chairman Mr. Donald Morris said a Centrex system would be fine with him, but BIC would keep its tour desks.

Mr. Dodwell said he liked the idea of the Centrex system, not only in hotels, but in other central public locations. "The Centrex system maybe has merit,'' he said.

But Mr. Stephen Barker, regional vice-president of Princess Properties International Ltd., said he did not want Centrex systems in his two large Bermuda hotels.

"Our guests prefer to deal with real people,'' Mr. Barker said. "They want to have interaction with employees or operators who can give them more information and complete details on other items around the Island, not just a cold analysis of what a tour has to offer.'' But to have both a tour desk and a Centrex system would be "redundant'', he said.

Mr. Barker, who is also chairman of the Bermuda Hotel Association, said the dispute had been "well covered'' in The Royal Gazette and he did not feel there was much he could add.

"It's an area we're always looking at,'' he said of the tour desks. "We're always looking to make sure our guests are getting the best service possible and are fully informed on all the tours and activities that are available.'' Regarding a specific complaint from Mr. Jed Rhoads of Philadelphia about the BIC desk at Southampton Princess, Mr. Barker said Mr. Morris followed up on the complaint and wrote a letter to Tourism Minister the Hon. C.V. (Jim) Woolridge.

Mr. Dodwell said the tour desk dispute was a longstanding one and a "tough'' problem.

"I don't think things have changed much, except that BIC has gotten stronger by picking up more hotel desks,'' he said.

He understood the hotels' point of view. Operating their own tour desks would be costly.

While he sympathised with the boat operators, Mr. Dodwell said BIC's viewpoint was "that they have the right to go out and bid on these desks. If they get them, why shouldn't they operate them, obviously, to their own benefit?''