Shadow Tourism Minister David Dodwell has hit back at claims that his concern voiced over the third quarter arrivals for last year was nothing more than "whining".

He said when Tourism and Telecommunications Minister Renee Webb accused both himself and Bermuda Hotel Association president Michael Whinfield of whinging over the figures, instead of being constructive, she was burying her head in the sand.

He said, contrary to the Minister's comments, both he and Mr. Whinfield had invested heavily in the industry by ploughing money into their hotels, but he said if the arrival and spend figures for July to September last year were not as good as hoped, then people should be able to say so.

Mr. Dodwell said: "The Minister has to stop shooting the messenger.

"This is her classic pattern of behaviour. In my view, she can't take the heat of bad news. The Minister has to understand that the numbers can't be changed, so let's be honest about it."

Mr. Dodwell said the figures, which were released last Friday and showed a marginal increase on the same period in 2001, were not good enough.

He said, considering the September 11 attacks had devastated the tourism trade of 2001, Bermuda should have bounced back better than it did.

While Ms Webb claimed the figures were encouraging, Mr. Dodwell labelled them "deeply disappointing" and Mr. Whinfield said they were "disturbing".

Mr. Dodwell said when he made his comments about the figures, he was not speaking merely for himself, but for the workers and the industry, as a whole.

"I'm trying to acknowledge that we are going through a difficult period by producing the facts and by saying that the workers and the industry need major help," added the Shadow Minister.

"Hoteliers are part of the solution, and the two hoteliers that she has picked on have invested huge amounts of money.

"If we did not have confidence, we would not have invested money."

"But you can't bury your head in the sand. The Minister said we are on our way to recovery, but really those figures were the result of September 11."

And Mr. Dodwell said although the Minister had said progress was not about the numbers, he believed the numbers had to play a significant role.

"You can't lead or manage unless you know what the numbers are. How would we know if we were improving?"

But Mr. Dodwell also agreed with the Minister's view that she was not solely responsible for the number of tourists coming to the Island and the amount they spent. And he said that was why Bermuda needed a tourism authority.

"That's why we want to take politics out of tourism and put it in the hands of a Bermuda Tourism Authority," he said.

The figures showed the total number of arrivals for the third quarter as going up from 178,342 to 186,194, and air arrivals going up from 87,997 to 91,229.

After both Mr. Dodwell and Mr. Whinfield announced their unease at the figures, Ms Webb suggested they stopped complaining. She said: "It is always surprising that those (hoteliers) who are the beneficiaries of Government spending are such whiners and complainers.

"They should be part of the solution, rather than whining. The recovery of tourism is not just the goal of Government, it is the goal of hoteliers themselves, and they should start being optimistic and thankful (that Government is spending money on tourism)."