American visitors tend to go on holiday for shorter periods of time and travel more frequently than in years past, a recent article in the New York Times indicates.

And Tourism Minister David Dodwell believes Bermuda is in an ideal position to take full advantage of these trends.

"The Abbreviated Tourist -- Americans Are So Busy, With So Many Places To Go'' highlights American tourism in the 90's.

American families "find that their lives keep getting busier and busier, making it harder to carve out big chunks of time together,'' the article noted.

And this is why they are taking shorter vacations.

"Besides,'' it continued, "there are so many more places to visit these days, from new resorts and theme parks to the Mall of America in Minnesota and the way to see more of them is to spend less time at each one.'' Americans are re-engineering their leisure time and part of that involves "quick bursts of travel'' with more than half of all vacation trips in the US during the 90's consisting of weekend travel -- no more than five nights away from home.

This trend "has forced the tourism industry to revamp its marketing and pricing practices,'' stated the article.

"Hotels, resorts, historical sites and entire cities have scrambled to accommodate larger numbers of people staying for shorter stretches.'' And Mr. Dodwell said: "We are uniquely placed to take advantage of this because we are so close to the US. This makes us ideal for the `quick break' or long weekend that the article refers to.'' However, he noted that there was also an increase in the number of destinations people could travel to.

"There are so many places to visit. We have to recognise that there is more competition out there than there used to be.'' Bermuda had as much to offer as other destinations but its product had to be organised, he pointed out.

"We have so much product here. What we do not do well enough is coordinate it. Both the public and private sector must work together and coordinate the product we have here in Bermuda.'' Airlines have also picked up on the change in travelling habits, pointed out the article.

"More airlines are offering bargain fares that make quickie trips across the continent, even across the Atlantic, more affordable than a visit with friends and relatives in the next state.'' With American lives speeding up, continued Mr. Dodwell, shorter packages needed to be offered and this was part of the thinking behind the Summer of '97 promotion which had seen some 11,000 bookings since it started.

Travellers also wanted lower airfares to go along with their short trips and the promotion offered this with its $97 fares.

A second New York Times article pointed to the power of the airfare and the niche marketing schemes used by airlines to fill as many seats as possible.

Over the Labour Day holiday there are fares for as low as $158 return between Newark, New Jersey and Los Angeles, California.

American Airlines spokesman Tim Smith is reported as saying -- in reference to the mini-fares for flights of two and three days -- that: "We've gotten so good at finding troughs of availability that we offer them in selected markets even in holidays and in summer.'' And cruise lines are also succumbing to the trend with cruises of two to five day durations making up the fastest growing segment of the market.

DAVID DODWELL -- Proximity to the United States is a big plus.