Plans for a new resort at Morgan's Point are expected to be unveiled within weeks, according to the Premier. Southlands Ltd. is to make a presentation on the revised project early next month, said Dr. Ewart Brown.

The Tourism and Transport Minister said developments at Club Med (Park Hyatt), Par-la-Ville, Hamilton (St. Regis), Coral Beach (Four Seasons), and Ariel Sands were also still on track. The Premier gave an update on the projects at a press conference into the Throne Speech initiatives yesterday.

"The Park Hyatt is still on course and the St. Regis project for Hamilton is on track, and the developers are close to making an announcement," he said.

"The Four Seasons at Coral Beach has run into some difficulty, but they too have not said their project is off the books.

"Ariel Sands had some life injected into it recently. I've met with Mr. (Michael) Douglas and the proposed hoteliers for this project, so that is looking more positive."

He added: "The Morgan's Point situation, I don't think I can add much to that other than to remind you that the Government did the right thing by not completing the (land) swap negotiations (with Southlands Ltd.) until the plan for the entire development was revealed, because otherwise we could end up with someone owning a piece of Morgan's Point and would then have to develop around them.

"The Southlands group is to make a presentation early in December to the hotel development committee," he added. "I am still positive about the development of hotels in Bermuda, and am amazed we haven't had some of them say, 'We can't do it', due to the current economic climate. Even the project we haven't heard much about recently, the Grand Atlantic (Resort and Residences) even that project (at the former Golden Hind site) has shown new signs of life in the last couple of weeks."

In the Throne Speech Government announced amendments to the Hotel Concessions Act to simplify the process for hotels making applications and to assist smaller properties. Government said: "Bermuda must remain competitive and upbeat in the growth of the original pillar of our economy. In this Session the Legislature will be invited to consider amendments to the Hotel Concessions Act to streamline the process by which concessions are gained and simplify the claims requirements to encourage smaller hotel properties to avail themselves of the benefits."

The Premier said yesterday that Government wanted to "remove barriers that inhibit hotel development".

"You may recall that an objective of the Hotel Concessions Act of 2000 was to provide some tax relief to hoteliers who re-developed their properties," he said. "Another objective was to encourage training Bermudians and hiring local entertainment. Proposed amendments to the Act recognise that we not only compete with other destinations for the visitor dollars but that we also compete for the hotel investment dollar.

"To differentiate ourselves, we must make Bermuda more attractive for new hotel investors. For those that already have a stake in our community, we must continue to provide incentives to make it easier and more cost effective for them to upgrade their facilities to keep pace with or stay ahead of the competition. Our proposed amendments to the Hotel Concessions Act are the result of collaborative talks with the hotel owners of Bermuda, who have identified barriers that cause the Act to be less effective today than when we introduced it."

Commenting on incentives for smaller properties, Dr. Brown said: "The Hotel Concessions Act of 2000 was primarily aimed at larger properties and they took advantage of it, and some of the smaller properties have come forward and said, 'We would like to benefit from that as well'.

"We are trying to make it easier for them to benefit."