June 17, 2013Dear Sir,How well does Bermuda tourism know the kind of visitors it wants to attract so that it can offer them the kinds of things they want? The question further down that line of inquiry concerns whether gambling/gaming is what visitors really want. Not understanding the preferences and expectations of existing and potential tourist visitors to Bermuda is a mistake of neglect that will have serious consequences for the future of tourism in Bermuda.Adding gambling to Bermuda’s tourism mix is like installing a fancy new GPS to an old jalopy. GPS might help direct it from A to B, but it’ll still be an old banger when it gets there. First things first: get under the hood, tune up the engine, change the oil, check the tyres. Whatever you do with your car, do that with tourism: basic maintenance to get it to run better. Do the hard stuff first, get down and greasy. Then think about installing that nice shiny new GPS (for which, read: casino, or the like).Glitzy gizmos and accessories don’t add value to your wheels if the tyres and battery are flat; fuel economy, dependability and regular maintenance do. And GPS won’t do you any good at all if your battery’s flat. And it isn’t foolproof: if it isn’t programmed properly it can lead you over a cliff.Get good mechanics before you shell out on a fancy new accessory you want but might — and I emphasis might — not actually need. It might not look as pretty when you take it out of the box as you imagined it from the catalogue. Worse, it won’t work if there’s no juice to run it. Worst of all, it might actually be dangerous.CAVEAT EMPTORLondon