: I have been here for over four years, and I began as the Manager of Creative Services, responsible for the development of brochures and marketing material and presentations, anything that required creativity.

Within a year, I was named Manager of Communications, responsible for all advertising, which fit my educational and professional background, because I majored in advertising at the New York Institute of Technology.

I lived in New York for a while, and worked in another two places before I came here. Then I came home, and love the chance to work for my country, and Bermuda is such an easy product to sell. About two years ago, I was promoted to the Assistant Director of Tourism ? Marketing, responsible for all marketing by the department. So, it has been very exciting.

: The feedback was immediate. Since the launch of the campaign, including the actual event which launched the advertising, and the Selfridge's windows, we have seen results from the tour operators who say that bookings have increased, awareness levels have increased, and there was a major increase in UK media coverage.

The exposure we received has comfortably exceeded the cost of the event. The Selfridge's window wrap was a first in the UK. We are always looking for new things to do, because if you keep doing the same things, you get the same results. We are trying to be very focused and targeted, and speak to the people we need to speak to, who are affluent travel consumers, but speak to them in a new and interesting way, using really creative and different initiatives.

Definitely. The UK launch is a part of the overall strategic direction. In 2003, we launched the North American campaign, and we have also fine-tuned the media and advertising there, so that we no longer do national advertising, but target our advertising directly at the gateway cities. We will also be aiming marketing support at the cities where the new 2004 flights are originating.

It is a matter of holding ourselves accountable. I think the Minister of Tourism (Ren?e Webb) really wants to ensure that the department operates like a business. So, we have budgets for advertising and public relations, etc., and those dollars must be used in the most effective manner, and they should be deriving results.

Every dollar we spend should produce revenue for the country. Therefore, we had to take a look at what we had been doing historically, and the results we were delivering, and look at the return on investment.

We discovered we were spending money in some areas, in pockets of North America and Europe, which were not producing results. We knew where the people and flights were coming from, and we are now spending directly in these markets which have the greatest potential to deliver visitors to the island. So, yes, it's far more focused on the areas of best opportunity.

We are not selling a 'holiday' to Bermuda. In 2004 and beyond, we are selling experiences. We must ensure that the experiences that the visitors take home with them are complete, and wonderful, and memorable.

Yes, the product must be consistent with that ambition, and with the advertising message we are putting into the marketplace. We are targeting a very sophisticated, educated consumer who has experienced other places and products around the world at a very high level.

In the last couple of years, you have seen an investment in the industry which is very positive. You have seen the Fairmont hotels and Elbow Beach spend millions of dollars, and there is new investment coming into the island to upgrade the physical plant.

But that's only one aspect of the experience we must give every visitor. The beaches and the railway trail have to be clean and safe, and we must offer good entertainment, but it's also about the friendly chat on the street or in a shop, warm and friendly service in hotels and restaurants, children talking politely to visitors on the bus. All of that makes a really memorable experience. It's up to all of us in the community, not just the department. We can't do it alone.

Yes, we do research to understand what the visitor really wants. We ask whether they want to come down here and escape and do nothing, or do they want more night club entertainment? Until we truly understand what the consumer wants, we have to make sure we are careful in how we develop our island.

We don't want to lose Bermuda's unique attributes, because we have people coming back 15 or 30 times who love it the way it is. As a people, we have to determine what we want to offer, and do it well.

There are opportunities for us to do things really well, to introduce more sophisticated entertainment and night life. You can do 'sexy fun' without doing 'sexy trashy', and we can do 'sexy sophisticated.'

Anyone coming here wants appealing entertainment, whether it be candlelit caf?s, beautiful lounges or cabarets, or waterfront caf?s, but we do need to be inventive, create new and fresh ideas to attract the right kind of upscale audience. We need to do the research, and some exploring, to see what people are doing in other successful destinations, and introduce some of these things to the island.

I don't think it's the department's responsibility to introduce entertainment or provide entertainment. I think that we can happily work with the private sector, but they have to step up to the plate, and introduce entertainment, and products and services that the consumers want.

We do encourage the private sector and the Hotel Concessions Act has provisions that assist there. We do provide people with the data about what our research tells us that visitors want. Last year, we held an entertainers' showcase, and invited the local musicians to entertain the hoteliers and restaurateurs, to encourage them to hire the musicians, and we have that on tape and CD.

I can't speak on behalf of the department, but for myself, I would wholeheartedly support converting Front Street into that type of environment. I think that's exactly what Front Street needs. I think that's what the people we are addressing in our advertising are looking for.

It would reinvent the city and the island. It would provide energy, and bring life into the city. it would bring Bermudians out to interact with our visitors on the caf?s and boardwalks. Any initiative like that would be of great benefit to the island, and I would support that completely.

I think we would have to get around a table and see what needed to be done. And it would not be a matter just for the department, or Government and the Corporation, we would also need the private sector and entrepreneurs, like Sir John, coming together to look at a real plan, a comprehensive plan for Hamilton and the waterfront. We have the body, in the Bermuda Alliance for Tourism, to discuss these things, and other initiatives.

Obviously, we work very hard to attract new investment to the island, and to diversify the product so that we would have the ability to sell a Four Seasons product or a Ritz-Carlton product, or even a boutique hotel product.

That is something that is lacking at the moment. We could have places that were younger, and 'hipper', and more modern, like the Mercer in New York. They do very well, and attract a sophisticated audience.

So, I think we have to work very aggressively to attract those types of developers and hotel owners to the island, to get them to consider Bermuda as a real opportunity. That's not taking into consideration everything that has been done, several new properties that are coming online, and that we are really excited about, such as the Lantana Spa property.

Spas are doing very well, and I think Bermuda is poised to be one of the most successful destination spas. We are looking at opportunities in the private and very exclusive 'wellness' resort area.

We are very targeted on a specific group of people, 35 to 55, $100,000-plus household income. We must focus on a very affluent, contemporary, sophisticated audience, but when you focus your message, those who aspire to be those people are captured at the same time. With limited resources, we must ensure that we are speaking to the people we need to accommodate. I think the community has lost an understanding of just how important tourism is to the island. Tourism isn't seen as a dynamic industry any more, or profitable, but that may change quite rapidly. I think people are going to see growth in the sector, and that will create new interest in the younger generation.

One of the things we are doing this year is working to educate people at all levels that tourism is back, things are happening, and that young people can look forward to a viable, and energetic and dynamic career in tourism.

The Department of Education is working hard to introduce tourism education, and they already have programmes in place. We want young people to play their part in energising tourism. We all have a part to play in extending the Bermuda welcome. We are a warm people, and we like to interact with visitors. I have taken complete strangers home for dinner many times, and that's what Bermuda is all about. That's what we are.

Yes, there's opportunity for growth. The tourism product is growing, the airline product is growing. We sit at the table together, these things don't happen in isolation. We have a BAT airline committee, and we work closely with the Ministry of Transport, and we are developing the strategies together. It's looking at things more holistically, and coming up with real solutions. We have bermudatourism.com, a very successful web site, and we ensure that in any communications we do that bermudatourism.com is listed, so that visitors can go on line and book their airlines, their hotels, and activities and golf tee times, and the system is working now. The target audience is more likely to use the internet, and it is growing fast. We do the research on an ongoing basis, as part of the exit survey. We ask visitors about the experience they had, and their expectations, and we can benchmark it against past years. We can change or fine-tune that research, so that as tastes change, we can be sure we get the information we need to produce new plans or introduce new product.

We also do research overseas to understand the effectiveness of our advertising. It's important to be dynamic and keep our finger on the pulse. The tourism world is changing all of the time, and we have to be responsive to these changes.