Tourism's free "Pop By" flags and ginger beer are proving popular.

But there is little evidence they are being put to the use intended.

Yesterday The Royal Gazette surveyed the response to the Department of Tourism's latest initiative.

Yes, the "Pop By" flags are being collected by the dozen at local gas stations.

But no they are not being stuck on the beach to attract visitors. After scouring Horseshoe Beach, Warwick Long Bay and Elbow Beach for one hour yesterday afternoon, only one could be seen at the Warwick Long Bay convenience stand.

"People are just looking for what is free and take it," Teddy Terceira, night- manager at the Shell Gas Station in Warwick said yesterday.

His gas station had given away every single one of their flags.

"We are all out," Mr. Terceira said yesterday afternoon.

He said on Saturday, four children from the same family came into the gas station and demanded four six packs of Ginger Beer.

Children want the flags because they are pretty and colourful, he said.

In response, parents demand several flags from the cashiers when the limit is supposed to be one per family.

"The mom kept coming in and kicking up," he said. "It's hard to enforce."

Mr. Terceira said it was difficult to enforce because it often got very busy at the gas station so they ended up giving away the flags to anyone.

"I'm not paying for the six-pack," he said. "There are no many `if's' in the design of this thing. If people take it to the beach, if it is in a place where a tourist can see it and if they have a conversation."

"People were not using them the way they were supposed to," another employee at the Warwick Gas station said.

Inside the gas stations were leaflets that clearly state that the flags are supposed to be taken to the beach and inserted in "two feet of sand". "Our visiting tourists will know to `Pop By' and have a drink of ginger beer," the leaflet reads. "With little effort you can do your part. Remember, tourism's success is everyone's future."