customised experiences they are looking for, Monitor Company project director Joseph Babiec told Hamilton Rotarians yesterday.

He said this was an observation his team had made after only seven weeks study of the Island's tourism industry.

Monitor was hired by Government and the private sector to conduct an in-depth analysis of Bermuda's tourism problems. It is intended to draw up an action plan to help convert findings into ways of bringing benefits to the Island.

Yesterday, Mr. Babiec said hotel management and workers around the Island were caught in vicious cycles, Mr. Babiec said.

While managers tried to improve their hotels, they were constrained financially and had to devote their limited funds to maintaining physical plants and training workers.

But they were unable to offer stable jobs for workers, let alone aid them in creating careers in the industry.

This saw hotels fielding large numbers of part-time employees which made it difficult for them to guarantee the high levels of service today's visitor demanded, said Mr. Babiec.

And managers were being forced to turn to volume-driven sales drives in order to fill beds which attracted a wide variety of customers with a wide variety of demands.

Staff found some of these hard to meet, resulting in the perception of uneven service.

Meanwhile workers were forced to find stable work to supplement their income as the unstable hotel industry raised doubts about employment.

And they were more concerned about keeping their jobs rather than learning new skills.

To break the cycles, continued Mr. Babiec, both parties had to work together and dismiss the negative feelings and mistrust between them as these prevented the necessary communication and cooperation necessary to create new wealth.

When general managers had skilled staff, they could put in place services which delivered the customised experiences visitors wanted.

Meanwhile employees have a stable environment in which to learn and use new skills and build a career, he continued.

Mr. Babiec said Bermuda once offered a unique package of location, weather, culture and friendly people which encouraged wealthy visitors to return to the Island.

But now young visitors and first-time visitors had expanded vacation options and wanted their needs met, he said.

Bermuda needed to identify specific types of customers, build highly customised experiences for them and focus on retaining them as customers.

TOURISM TOU