WAYNE Smith believes that all of his educational and business and personal experience has been pointing him directly to his present position as Executive Director of the Bermuda Alliance for Tourism.

The late Tourism Minister David Allen may have commissioned a conduit group of stakeholders in the hospitality industry to look at the challenges facing tourism, and the BAT may have been incorporated in 2002, long before Wayne's appointment in September, 2003, but Wayne thinks the task and the not inconsiderable challenges are tailor-made for him.

"I am a people person, and I like a challenge. I have always believed that I was born to work in the tourism industry. I think that I have the education, the experience and the personality to work in it, and more importantly, a real interest, a passion for this industry."

"I always had an extroverted personality, and I remember, even in my days back at Elliott primary school, that I really liked these parts of the curriculum that dealt with the tourism industry. Back then, students were really made aware how important tourism was to Bermuda, and that is something I hope to participate in moving forward, and get many more Bermudians involved in tourism and working in it. The Visitor Industry Partnership school programme is under-supported and under-funded and could use an injection of resources to maximise its potential.

"I was, and am, a very pround Berkeleyite and then earned at BA in Business Administration, majoring in Marketing, at Acadia University in Nova Scotia. Later, I did an MBA through the Webster University programme on island.

"I have worked in the private sector, in real estate, banking, in computers and wireless communications, and in the public sector, as a project manager at Works & Engineering, and then in the Department of Tourism, as a manager of sports marketing, in what I thought at the time was a dream job.

Wayne, turning 40 this year, looks back fondly on earlier experiences in the tourism industry. "I worked at Grotto Bay, and Belmont, Waterloo House and Mermaid Beaches, summer jobs when I was home from university. I enjoyed these jobs, because I liked interacting with people. I was also working as a disc jockey in the nightclubs and discos.

"Just more good fun with people, and I kept that up until 1998. My position at the Department of Tourism eventually turned into more of a product development marketing role by the time I was ready to leave.

"I learned many things in that job, and I was the golf tournament director for the Merrill Lynch Shootout, which evolved into the Gillette Tour Challenge, and I was actively involved, with Alec Anderson, in that great event at Coral Beach, the XL tennis tournament."

IN fact, Wayne was in no rush to move on, except that he was made an offer that he absolutely could not refuse. "I loved working in tourism, and the only reason I left was because I just could not bypass the opportunity to serve as aide-de-camp to the Governor (Thorold Masefield). It is an opportunity that comes by once in a lifetime. It was such a rewarding experience, both professionally and personally.

"What stands out was the opportunity to meet an even wider range of people than I had met previously: leaders of countries, successful, dynamic people. I learned from them, and it was interesting to see how these people operate.

"I had an excellent relationship with Governor and Mrs. Masefield and I maintain occasional contact with them to this day.

"I believe I already had liaison skills, but that position probably refined and augmented these skills, which I need for the job I have today. Because, essentially, that is what I am, a liaison between the Government and the private sector," he said.

"As ADC, I enjoyed working with the staff, organising functions, and being the Governor's close protection officer, because I am in the army, I am a military man. Being ADC is a combination of bodyguard, confidant and adviser."

Captain Smith prefers not to be drawn on the topic of Independence, but thinks that, as long as the people want Bermuda to remain a British Overseas Territory, more advantage could be taken of the Governor's role and contacts.

"We have to make maximum use of the Governor, and the Deputy Governor, and utilise the contacts that they have with the British Government and key people in the UK. We have had this relationship for a very long time, and I just don't think we have used it fully to Bermuda's advantage. I believe the relationship is good for Bermuda, but that we can do a lot more with it."

After leaving his post with the Governor, he held positions with the Bank of N.T. Butterfield and Mobility, the wireless solutions provider, before he saw the opportunity to move back into a senior tourism role in his current position with BAT.

"Clearly, this is the job for me. It draws together everything I have ever done: my interest in sports, my interest in tourism, my experience in liaison with innumerable organisations at Government House, event management, my personal passion for the tourism industry and my desire to see it improve, and my love for Bermuda and its people.

"In the few months I have been here, I have been overwhelmed by the enormous amount of work that has been done by people who are mostly volunteers.

"At present, I am the only full-time employee. The rest of the members have full-time jobs in hotels and other businesses, but they have volunteered many hours of their personal time to move forward initiatives and projects we are working on, all of which are aimed at helping and improving the tourism industry.

WAYNE does not under-estimate the size of the challenges facing him and the BAT, or Bermuda's tourism industry as a whole, but he is resolutely upbeat about the prospects of turning round a long history of decline.

"Bermuda has the opportunity to be the first country to have a national concierge programme, which will allow us to bring all of Bermuda's hotels, restaurants, attractions and places of interest into one booking mechanism.

"When we get it running, a visitor will be able to go online and book his airline ticket, hotel reservations, golf, tennis, scuba diving or whatever else on this central reservations system.

Wayne points out that this summer, Bermuda will be served by more flights from more gateways than at any time in its history.

By bringing together a wide cross-section of tourism industry stakeholders to its marketing and product development committees, working together to conceive new promotions and improved product, he is confident that the BAT will have a pivotal role in reviving Bermuda tourism.