finished their air time.

The radio commercials, which compared Bermuda to Scotland and Venice in a lighthearted manner, have now given way to similar ads pitching the Island against US beach resorts.

Tourism Minister David Allen said the adverts -- which brought protests from the Italian tourist agency and the Scottish media -- had always been planned to finish in mid-May.

They started in April and had a six-week run as the new ads were phased in.

Now the commercials feature travel comparisons for Bermuda against the Hamptons in Long Island, Cape Cod and Atlantic City -- citing the shorter travel time to get here as opposed to the long time spent in traffic in the US. They also promote Bermuda's high quality sandy beaches, golf courses and spas -- implying that you cannot do similar things in the featured US resorts.

The Minister said he was confident that the adverts would not provoke the same reaction as the initial commercials.

"I wouldn't say they are hard hitting. We have run them by focus groups and vetted them carefully,'' he said.

Mr. Allen added that the adverts -- which compared Bermuda to Scotland for golf and to Venice for romantics -- were carefully designed to kickstart the campaign and were designed to be followed by commercials designed with beach holidays in mind.

They all precede the major image promotion which is due to start in a number of top quality magazines in July. Colour spreads will run in Conde Nast Traveller, Travel and Leisure, New York and the Smithsonian.

In addition, Internet banners have been introduced and intermittent travel trade adverts will run throughout the year.