Travel-hungry Tourism Minister David Allen has come under fire for his latest trip off the Island.

Mr. Allen, who has been away since last Thursday, is currently on a tour which has taken in London and Spain and ends with a cruise from Baltimore to Bermuda on the Island's newest cruise ship visitor.

His travels have drawn fire from Shadow Tourism Minister David Dodwell who claimed the Minister is shying away from problems facing the industry on the Island by being away so much. The latest trip is understood to be combining attendance at the launch of the Tall Ships 2000 Race in Spain with a fact-finding tour of a potential location for Bermuda's participation in a travel show in 2001.

After leaving the Island last Thursday for London, to introduce new Tourism Director Richard Calderon to Bermuda's European tourism partners, Mr.Allen headed down to Spain.

And after scouting a site for the American Society of Travel Agents' World Travel Congress in Seville next November, and going to Cadiz to see the tall ships off, he is expected to head to the US for next Wednesday's inaugural sailing of the Crown Dynasty from Baltimore.

Further publicity has been arranged in Philadelphia for the Dynasty , which switches to that port at the beginning of June.

Mr. Dodwell said it was not fair for the public to expect to have a Tourism Minister who is frequently absent, when he could be dealing with problems with the product on the Island.

"He doesn't want to be here. He doesn't want to deal with structural core issues. If he did he would be here,'' he said.

"He is trying to fool the public into thinking that a Minister of Tourism being away is promoting, doing something good for Bermuda. He really should be here, helping the rebuilding of tourism. You can't rebuild tourism from a hotel suite abroad.

"Because of major issues of product restructuring, we don't need a Minister travelling so much. Promoting is not going to help the product improve.'' Mr. Dodwell said the Spain trip could have been delegated to someone within Mr. Allen's Department, but the planned publicity surrounding the launch of the weekend Dockyard ship drew further anger.