Bermuda's tourism industry has never fully recovered from the effects of 9/11, according to a hotel expert.

Mike Winfield, a former co-chairman of the Bermuda Alliance for Tourism, said he believes that the island suffered a devastating blow like many other destinations after the terror attacks.

But he feels the country has never returned to its halcyon days.

Mr Winfield, who also doubled as president of the Bermuda Hotels Association 25 years ago, maintained that the island's people rallied to the cause after planes were grounded and others diverted owing to the terror in the skies and ban on flights over American airspace.

He played his part, along with members of the alliance, to rapidly find bed and board for 600 stranded passengers.

Mr Winfield said: “You often hear the expression that Bermuda has always been able to punch above its weight, well it certainly did back then. And we did that by working together when we were called on to respond.

“We did remarkably well [as an island].

“If you look back, though, Bermuda’s tourism changed definitively and we have still not got back to the numbers of before.”

Mr Winfield pointed to the drop in flights and cited a fear factor for foreigners’ flying plus the vastly tightened security measures at airports.

“The world changed … for ever,” he said. “And particularly for Bermuda tourism it changed in a big way.

“I think the mindset of people travelling changed too and not just here but in Europe.”

Recalling the moment he learnt of the terrorist outrage at the twin towers, Mr Winfield said: “Back then I was manager of Cambridge Beaches hotel and chief executive officer of the company and somebody called me in my office and said, 'You need to come down to the television room', which we had back then.

“That is when I saw the figure of a plane, the second plane, going into a building.

“For anyone my age, or older, I am 73, it was one of those moments like the JFK assassination — you always remember where you were.

“There are moments like that in history that you remember where you were and what you were doing and, unfortunately, 9/11 is one of those moments.

“The impact is visceral and goes right through you.”

He recalled the response of the tourism alliance back on September 11, 2001.

“We had the Bermuda Alliance for Tourism, which was a working group consisting of hotels and tourism and we had an airline committee and back in those days we all worked very, very well together,” he said.

“So we had all the players really including airport people and a very active airline committee with marketing people within the group and it was a good collaboration.

“Frankly, getting 600 people accommodation was easier than you would think.

“Firstly it was a matter of 300 rooms, assuming most were couples and in September back then it would not have been so busy.

“Tourism was seasonal back then and was from mid-April to mid-October and September became less popular with Labour Day celebrations and schools going back.

“So, we certainly would have had the rooms. Although I don't remember the specifics, we would have got together, dealt with the incoming airport situation with flights being diverted and found rooms for them.

“It was a case of getting bodies in beds and we did that.”

Mr Winfield continued: “The world changed that day — look at the way we go through security. That was a significant change.

“As I said, Bermuda has always been able to punch above its weight if we are called upon and back then, when we were called upon to respond, we did it and we did it by working together.”