In the next five to six months, a particular brand of visitor is expected to descend on the Island in extra and significant numbers.

And while these types of visitors -- aging or elderly, often quite well-heeled -- may not be new to Bermuda, their presence here (or lack of it) could effectively make or break a new tourism scheme that, if successful, could set a new and profitable agenda for the Island and indeed the entire world.

The new Centre for Successful Aging, which is scheduled to open at Marriott's Castle Harbour Resort on January 1 of next year, is expected to cash in on the sizable number of North American baby boomers who will enter their twilight years in the coming decade by offering the dual socio-economic benefits of providing its over-50 users with the tools to grow old healthfully and its host Island with a much-needed boost in tourism.

Developed jointly by, among others, the Mount Sinai Medical Centre in New York, the Marriott International hotel chain, the US-based Institute for International Sport and the Island's Department of Tourism, Bermuda's Centre for Successful Aging, which will be located on the eighth floor of the Tucker's Town resort, is the first of its kind in the tourism universe, a precursor if it goes well of the shape of things to come.

"It (the Centre) is an extraordinary innovation and we hope it will bring many new people to Bermuda,'' a tourism official said at the facility's official announcing in May. "I hope it will become a prototype for Bermuda and in other parts of the world.'' On paper, of course, there doesn't seem to be any reason for the Centre for Successful Aging not to succeed -- particularly in Bermuda, which has long been a destination of choice for US and Canadian seniors.

Next year, moreover, the first of the US' baby boomers -- that group of postwar culture dominators who were born between 1945 and 1960 -- will enter their 50s, with the number of Americans over the age of 65 leaping to 50 million -- or 16 percent of the US population -- over the next 20 years.

All of this, not surprisingly, has prompted the US government to earmark major funding for research into aging, while corporate service providers, including global tourist destinations, simultaneously scramble to get a piece of this fast-increasing market.

Despite all of the fanfare that has surrounded the Bermuda-based Centre, however, little physical work has gone into actually setting up the facility to date, Community learned recently from a Marriott source, who also said that the opening of the Centre may consequently be delayed until February.

Nonetheless, a preview of Marriott's plans at the facility's announcing in May did indicate that the eighth floor of the hotel would be converted into a set of modern laboratories, which will be staffed by a team of local doctors whose job it will be to provide visitors -- both local and overseas -- with a health evaluation, exercise programmes, personalised menus and general "blueprint'' for making long-term lifestyle changes.

Furthermore, the organisers revealed, the Centre for Successful Aging would be heavily marketed to potential users abroad through Marriott's extensive network, through Bermuda's Department of Tourism and through the International Senior Games, which are scheduled to take place on the Island in April of next year.

"We've got,'' the tourism official said in a show of the organisers' commitment, "a significant over-50s market who are wanting to stay active. In light of that, this initiative is extremely important. We think this has global ramifications. We want a kind of tourism that will help people live healthy lives.'' Indeed, a number of the Island's institutions -- and especially the Marriott -- have been trying to come up with new and unorthodox ways of attracting visitors to these shores.

Last spring, for example, the Castle Harbour Resort, which often leads the Department of Tourism in visitor innovations, joined forces with the Bermuda Aquarium to school its staff in the Island's natural heritage, thereby making a small but meaningful inroad into promoting eco-tourism here.

And just recently, King Edward VII Memorial Hospital announced that it would be adding a plastic surgery unit to its services -- one more attempt, it was acknowledged at the time, at attracting a stream of wealthy visitors here and boosting Bermuda abroad.

Given the Island's recent flagging tourism figures, such tactics, of course, may be necessary if Bermuda, which has been struggling with its identity as a tourist destination in recent years, is to retain its place in the tourism pantheon of the 21st century.

"No longer,'' Tourism Director Mr. Gary Phillips, who might have been speaking for Bermudian tourism in general, said of the Centre for Successful Aging, "can we be seen simply as a tourist destination. We must branch out into areas of special interest...capture the eyes and ears of the world.'' And in that race, it seems, the flag has already been raised.

TOURISM DIRECTOR MR. GARY PHILLIPS -- "No longer can we be seen simply as a tourist destination. We must branch out into areas of special interest.''