In March my wife and I had the pleasure of spending a week on your beautiful island and we read your newspaper every day in order to assimilate what was happening locally. We found it to be interesting and informative but we were disappointed to read that tourism is on the decline and we want to share with your readers some of our thoughts on the matter.

First of all, Bermuda is the most beautiful place we have ever visited and that includes much of the United States and many of the Caribbean islands.

Secondly, the friendliness and courtesy of your people are unexcelled and thirdly, your restaurants, shopping, and tourist attractions are among the finest in the world.

So with Bermuda having all these fine attributes it was difficult for us to imagine why tourism would be declining and the only reason we could think of was that Bermuda is an expensive place to visit, especially for Canadians.

Unfortunately it is expensive for reasons that you can do nothing about.

First, there is a big difference between the Canadian and American dollar. For example, a nice dinner for two at one of your fine restaurants might cost an American couple $100.00 but a Canadian couple has to think of that same dinner as costing $150.00. Secondly, Bermuda is expensive because everything has to be imported which adds considerably to the cost of items. For example, we saw bananas for sale in a local grocery market for $1.49 per pound. In Canada that same pound of bananas would cost about 49 cents per pound or about 75 cents if we were visiting the US.

But, as I said before, there are factors that you can do nothing about. So perhaps in promoting tourism the government could acknowledge that Bermuda is expensive but that it is well worth the difference! We certainly felt that way and we would highly recommend Bermuda to anyone who was willing to listen to us rave about the beauty of Bermuda and the wonderfulness of its people.

Contrary to many other places we have visited we encountered no begging, no children trying to force souvenirs on us, no poverty, no resentment of tourists and we felt perfectly safe everywhere we went, day or night. These are all things that detract terribly from other tourist destinations.

I can appreciate that the greater tourism market for Bermuda is the United States but you should be able to attract more Canadians for several reasons.

First, March is a month in which there is a major exodus of Canadians to the south, largely because of the one-week school break. Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, has so many visitors from the province of Ontario that it declares the school-break week to be Ontario week. This means that Canadians are willing to absorb the difference between the Canadian and American dollars simply to escape our cold climate for a week. Therefore the dollar difference should not deter them from visiting Bermuda. The only other factor is the expensiveness caused by the importation of goods and that is by far the lesser factor for Canadians.

With respect, I would suggest that your government's tourism department concentrate on emphasizing the many, very positive aspects of a visit to Bermuda, some of which I have described. We noted from reading your newspaper it is planned that air traffic is to be increased and cruise ship traffic decreased, both of which struck us as excellent ideas. Cruise ship passengers stay on board and generally eat on board. Air passengers obviously spend more money! In closing, let me reiterate how delighted my wife and I were with our visit.

Those who go elsewhere do not know what they are missing.

GLEN C. BONHAM Orangeville, Ontario But then again... April 14, 2000 Dear Sir, I write this letter not as a complaint but in the hopes that your readers will take note. I travel to your beautiful Island every year. I had hoped to next year bring my two children so they too may learn about this jewel in the Atlantic.

During my recent stay this past week I observed several items that concerned me. I witnessed a bus driver pocket cash on one late night run. Four dollars to be exact. "Don't worry about the fifty cents''. On another run to Hamilton the driver reluctantly accepted cash for my fare. "Where's your token''.

Having lunch with my friend, who lives as an expat on the island, we were ignored for some time at a local waterside tavern while other apparent locals received service arriving well after we did. I overheard younger members of the communities commenting on how this was "their Island'' while looking at myself and other "visitors''. My friend's wife walked a different route to avoid a group of teenagers that alarmed her. The threat may not have been real but it shouldn't even have to be perceived.

This reflects poorly on the country of proud, friendly people whom I have become accustomed to. Their daily greetings and smiles seem to only come from the older generation.

I work two jobs. One a government and the other selling travel packages. This gives me a unique perspective. I would find it very difficult to recommend Bermuda as a travel destination where the "tax'' on service is automatic. I believe that servers should take pride in their jobs and expect that they would be tipped accordingly.

My advice for what it is worth: turn to both your youth and elders for advice.

Look at other tourism areas that have turned their economies around and spend money on training service industry personnel. Reduce cost where possible and pass this on to vacationers. Increase a visible Police presence such as foot patrols and mountain bikes in busy areas. And most important...take pride in your Country's past fame as being clean, safe and friendly.

NEXT YEAR, MEXICO Ontario, Canada Government gets it wrong Dear Sir, So, the PLP Government is throwing an olive branch to business! If Terry Lister and his colleagues had taken the time to put a positive spin on the need to monitor racial imbalances in the workplace this would not have been necessary. Instead, they couldn't resist the opportunity to indulge in some IN YOUR FACE politics and rushed madly into their agenda to get rid of foreigners so that their supporters could be promoted upward. Now the damage has been done; the word has gone out worldwide that the PLP Government is unfriendly towards business.

Those of us who work in the international business field have a bitter taste in our mouths when we make excuses for the PLP's pratfalls. If they had any sense of statesmanship, we wouldn't have to cover up for their collective ignorance for the good of Bermuda.

It's a sad day for Bermuda when Rene Webb can rant and rave in the House that we don't need the likes of STW and Mr. William Williams in Bermuda. One can fully understand her sense of outrage; after all, it is very annoying when naughty people won't obey you and you are in charge! But one wonders who the we is that she refers to; since it is precisely firms such as STW that Bermuda does need.

Institutional investing means that the money has to be there when you need it.

Firms like STW provide responsible, high quality money management to fields Bermuda is specialised in, particularly Insurance, Pension planning and Offshore Trusts. These firms are environmentally friendly; they involve very large amounts of assets in relation to their size; they provide jobs and skillsets to Bermudians at world-class levels.

STW and firms like it have strong reputations in the investment world. By choosing to establish here they provide the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval for others thinking of doing so. They are very good citizens and have made very substantial contributions to the community; contributions that in STW's case, we are going to lose in the future.

Businesses are practical as well as being meritocracies. They prefer to hire Bermudians over expatriates because it makes sense (until recently half of STW's staff was Bermudian), but they hire people who can get the job DONE! Government is missing the point if it blames racial imbalances in the work place on business. The point is that Bermuda society and our school system have consistently failed to produce sufficient numbers of competent people to support businesses here. For the PLP to mandate policy to force employment of people above their competence (which is what is clearly behind this initiative) is a looming disaster for all of us.

The PLP Government has little or no understanding of the stature and respect the International Financial Services Industry holds for men like Mr. Williams and STW. For them to have been made so uncomfortable by, and to have based their decision to quit the Island on, impractical and hastily introduced policies imposed by our masters is a public relations disaster which will ripple through this industry for years to come. Like the abandonment of our visitors by taxi drivers at the Causeway in 1980, it will never be forgotten.

FIAT LUX Hamilton Walkers should take care April 17, 2000 Dear Sir, I see it will soon be time for the annual End-To-End `trash-up-the-island' walk. As usual I will NOT be sponsoring anybody until the day comes that I no longer have to pick up their trash after them.

Last year after the walk I collected five bags of drink containers along the railway trail in Somerset.

I suggest the walkers do as I do, and carry a bag to pick up trash instead of dropping it.

Yours Sincerely, ROCKWATCHER