Last week was a good week for tourism, showing once again that hope springs eternal for the Island's teetering second economic pillar.

Tourism Minister Renee Webb hosted a party in London to launch the Bermuda tourism campaign in the UK.

And Transport Minister Ewart Brown did his bit for the portfolio he supposedly would love to have by announcing a direct flight from Bermuda to Chicago and bringing United Airlines back to the Island for the first time since it had a short-lived direct flight to Washington, DC.

Ms Webb's London launch apparently garnered some "buzz" in the UK and there should be more today when Bermuda promotional materials appear in the windows of leading department store Selfridge's.

It is difficult to know whether the festivities ? the party was a combination launch and charity do ? will drive Britons to Bermuda.

Certainly the celebrities attending the party had a "B List" feel.

David Frost is a well known journalist, but the TV interview he is best known for ? with Richard Nixon ? occurred in the 1970s.

Grace Jones' music videos were huge in the 1980s, but today?

And Koo Stark, described as an international model in the tourism public relations, is best known for dating Prince Andrew (again in the 1980s) until her part in a soft porn film was revealed.

Still, the new agency promoting Bermuda did manage to snare actress Sadie Frost and designer Jemima French who together own a fashion design company called Frost French.

To be sure, destinations like Barbados have benefited from their jet set images, with the David and Victoria Beckhams lolling about their beaches and nightclubs.

Whether the attendees at the Bermuda party have the same star appeal (assuming they come closer to Bermuda than the Royal Horticultural Hall) is questionable. At least Bermuda has Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones.

In the end, it won't be celebrities attending parties who get visitors to Bermuda, but whether the Island's costs, airlift and the quality of the product are good enough. For the UK market, much of that will depend on British Airways and whether it will increase the frequency of summer flights and reduce its fares.

In addition, Leopold Kuchler is promising a summer launch for his Bermuda Star Airlines company, with flights from Germany and Manchester. But with few staff on board and no promotion yet, it is hard to see what impact it will have on the 2004 season, assuming it actually gets off the ground.

What should make a difference is the continued weakness of the US dollar against the pound and the euro. For Europeans, a Bermuda holiday is now around 20 percent cheaper than it was two years ago. That has to make a difference and is a good reason to push the Island now, although every Caribbean destination and the whole of the US will be pushing the same idea.

On the other side of the Atlantic, Dr. Brown's announcement of the Chicago flight is good news. Tourism officials have long seen the Midwest as a good potential market that the Island has never successfully exploited.

There have been attempts. For years, the Island promoted flights that went though an East Coast city and on to Detroit or Chicago. The late David Allen convinced TWA to fly direct from St. Louis, with hopes of also attracting West Coast visitors.

Nothing has really worked, and it will be interesting to see if this flight does.

What the addition of United does accomplish is a reduction in the Island's dependence on US Airways, which will account for a great many airline seats to Bermuda this summer. It is never good to put all your eggs in one basket and adding United to the Island's airline roll call is good news.