The Bermuda Hotel Association (BHA) is to meet today to discuss how the Island's tourism industry can fight off the disastrous downturn - along with the possibility of offering cut price rates.

John Harvey, CEO of the BHA, said he did not want to pre-empt what was said at the meeting, but believed discounted hotel rates could be on the agenda for discussion.

"We have been in discussion about what we should or should not be doing, and we are having another meeting tomorrow," he said.

"This is one of the issues we may be talking about. They are on-going discussions in view of recent events, but I don't really want to pre-empt what is said."

Also on the agenda is likely to be the problem of whether or not hotels will be laying off staff in the wake of the slow down.

The comments came from Mr. Harvey yesterday after the head of the hotel and tourism association in Barbados said he believed hotels would have to massively slash their rates in order to entice visitors.

Allan Banfield, president of the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association, said leaders of the industry in his country were to meet yesterday to discuss an emergency plan to deal with the decline since the September 11 attacks.

He said hotels must press utilities and suppliers for better deals and said hotel rates may have to be cut by 50 percent if tourists were to be encouraged to travel.

Last night Shadow Tourism Minister David Dodwell, who owns The Reefs hotel, said he believed Bermuda had to sit back and assess the situation before making any rash decisions.

"I believe we should pause, assess and plan," said Mr. Dodwell.

"That means we have to look at the marketplace and we have to know for certain that we are going to get air service and we need to know when people are ready to travel again.

"People are in mourning now, but when they feel happy again they might want to travel.

"But my caution, and I sense that the majority of the hotels feel the same, is leaping too quickly."

But Mr. Dodwell said if and when the time came for Bermuda to market itself again, it had to find strategic ways to beat off the competition - and massively reduced rates may not be the answer.

He added: "I do feel that in order to entice the market we are going to have to reduce our prices, but also wrap them up into packages that send the right message.

"We need to give added value, which may mean giving additional items to people."

And he said one example of that may be to offer the same or similar hotel rates, but include dinner, as well.

Tourism Minister David Allen and BHA president Billy Griffith were not available for comment last night.