The Ministry of Tourism's much vaunted "Let Yourself Go'' advertising campaign will be redefined so that it fits within a newly-unveiled Five Year Plan aimed at arresting the "crisis'' in tourism.

But Tourism chiefs were quick to point out yesterday that this was not an admission that the controversial campaign had failed.

Rather, it was a response that ensured that the best parts of the campaign were kept while the rest is jettisoned.

Tourism Minister David Dodwell said that it was important to make a distinction between the actual campaign and the tagline.

"We will no longer use the television for advertising the campaign,'' he explained. "We will still use the tagline `Let Yourself Go' because the research showed that it is still consistent with our Five Year Plan.

"The overall Let Yourself Go creative strategy does work with our Five Year Plan but there are certain parts of the execution that do not work.'' Consequently the "Born to be Wild'', and the "In the Mood'' television commercials will be dropped.

"It is important to understand that these two commercials are not all that the Let Yourself Go campaign is about,'' he explained. "Let Yourself Go was an overall presentation.'' Mr. Dodwell said independent research showed the campaign was effective in reaching its target market and would be continued -- although it would be executed in a different way.

Principally, the Five Year Plan that Ministry is working from, is aimed at sophisticated, discerning persons who want to escape from the stress of living in their home countries.

Moreover, the visitor will be encouraged to see the Bermuda as a "total island resort'' and it is here that the LYG campaign fell short.

"During the first year of our Five Year Plan there will be no more "In the Mood,'' or "Born to be Wild'' ads on television,'' Mr. Dodwell said. "That part does not fit well with our new Five Year Plan.

"The LYG tagline works in print and it works in direct mail and magazines but where we feel it does not work is in television.'' Additionally, Mr. Dodwell said more money will be spent to market Bermuda in New England, the Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic States, as well as Canada because it was producing good results.

But less money would be spent on public relations and national magazines for non-Eastern US states because the numbers of visitors coming from this region were smaller given the money spent to attract them.

Last year, the Ministry of Tourism spent $14 million of taxpayers money to launch the LYG campaign with the promise that it would attract 25,000 new, younger, visitors from the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions of the US.

It was an attempt to dispense with the idea that Bermuda was a "staid, stilted and stuffy place.'' Tourism's five-year plan: Page 7