Shadow Tourism Minister David Dodwell yesterday challenged Premier Alex Scott and Tourism Minister Renee Webb to ?show the plan? behind their promises for a tourism rebound.

Both the Premier and the Minister have predicted 2004 will be an excellent year for tourism, however Mr. Dodwell felt Government was not striking while the iron was hot.

Considering Island has hit rock bottom for tourism in recent years, he said a good year for 2004 should be expected. ?We have nowhere else to go but up.?

A decrease in the past of room capacity has also created an arena for the numbers to improve by simply adding more rooms, he said, and favourable currency exchanges will also affect tourism positively in the coming year.

?We shouldn?t be praising the year as a great year coming up, that should be expected,? he said. ?We are working from a dreadful base.?

In fact, he added, the Opposition has itself predicted a 20 percent increase in tourism.

However Government does not appear to be doing enough to take advantage of the opportunities suddenly laid at their feet, he said.

Crime and service are the two key issues on which Government has failed to bring any substance. ?Talk is cheap, where is the plan?? Increases in violence and outbreaks such as the spectacle at Wellington Oval on April 4 where males attacked one another with machetes, knives, boards and even threatened the use of guns will not help the Island?s reputation as a tourist destination. ?Our reputation is actually pretty good right now,? he said. ?But the number one reason for choosing a vacation destination is safety. My concern is instances like at Wellington Oval, hotel robberies, and an increase in offensive weapons ... in the 2002 Throne Speech, it was promised to fight crimes with offensive weapons with tougher penalties. Nothing has happened. Tell us what?s behind your words,? he challenged Government. ?What are you doing about the crime issue to satisfy Bermudians and visitors?

Regarding the quality of service for tourists, Mr. Dodwell said he agreed ?100 percent? with Ms Webb?s view that service is key to assuring a good product.

?But what is the Minister doing to assure quality service? ... How can the Minister now call on everybody to provide service and recognise that service is important? Government really hasn?t done very much.?

Instead, the Government has cut funding to several organisations helping facilitate such service, he said. There has been a continued decrease in funding over the past three years to the Visitor Industry Partnership, an organisation focusing on quality service. ?It?s almost negligible now, it?s below $100,000,? Mr. Dodwell said. And funding was three years ago completely cut to the Freeman?s Service Initiatives, a company employed by Government in 1996 to work with the tourism industry to help implement service standards. Most of the hotels working with the group felt their worth so strongly they continued to employ their services minus Government funding, he said. ?I gather there is a movement within the private sector to bring them back.? Government?s emphasis seems to have been more on marketing and not product, he said.