here are people both within and outside of Bermuda's hospitality industry who view the Island's attempts to reinvent itself as a premier vacation destination with some scepticism. There are some who even believe those attempts may ultimately be a lost cause, and that the local economy's other major "pillar", international business, is Bermuda's holy grail. And then there is Simon Watkinson.

"It boggles my mind that we're not making a killing as a tourism destination, with everything that Bermuda has, from our surroundings to our people," says the 38-year-old president and CEO of Axiom Services Ltd.

"But there are some good initiatives going on in the industry, and we can achieve great results for Bermuda if all the entities involved keep working together to give visitors accessible and richer experiences while they're here."

His passion about the hospitality industry and desire to see long-term progress in turning around Bermuda's tourism woes is clearly evident. He sees Axiom, which promotes itself as providing complete destination management solutions that support the hospitality sector, as having a key role in that turnaround, and contributing directly to improving the visitor experience in Bermuda.

Indeed, making the various leisure activities available to visitors across Bermuda more accessible, in a more efficient way, was the core objective of the business which he founded in 1998 with a series of other local partners.

The service started as a central database for concierges from local subscribing hotels to check availability on tours and golf tee times from a variety of vendors. In the next phase of development, the company added a production and distribution service for a daily activities newsletter that virtually all hotels here now deliver to their guests. And three years ago Axiom launched its online reservations system, which facilitates bookings for everything from Bermuda Festival e-tickets to scuba diving trips, and everything in between, via the Internet. One of their biggest clients is Dolphin Quest, which uses Axiom's reservations system for its entire network here and in Hawaii. Axiom also handles activities bookings made through the Bermuda Department of Tourism website.

"What we realised when we started Axiom was that in order for Bermuda to be better at what it did for the visitor right here on the ground in terms of activities, we needed a common platform that the industry could operate from," said Mr. Watkinson.

"This was around the time that the Monitor Group was here helping the industry to clarify what Bermuda needed to do in order to fix things in terms of tourism. It struck me that if Bermuda seriously took up their recommendations to provide the visitor with more personalised, niche activities, this would need a supporting distribution network to make them accessible more efficiently. I thought we could use online technology to provide that network, to complement the personal service provided by concierges and the activities vendors."

After being selected, based on the strength of that idea, by Bermuda-based reinsurance company Centre as one of the first few start-ups in their incubation project the Axiom team had the additional financial backing and office space to make their concept a reality.

"That was a great opportunity and a great experience; their help was invaluable," Mr. Watkinson said of the time spent as an incubatee at Centre, which ended in June of last year.

He has channelled two long-standing interests ? hospitality and technology ? into the business: "I was always interested in hospitality; in fact one of the first two companies I set up produced guide maps to the island that are still used today. And ever since my parents bought me my first computer at age 14 I had an interest in technology and I'm basically self-taught in that regard."

However, he took a somewhat circuitous route towards becoming an entrepreneur, from national level swimmer in Bermuda to elite college athlete (swimming and football) to Police officer. After attending Warwick Academy and the Bermuda College, he left Bermuda in 1983 at age 17 for Acadia University to study for a BA degree in business management.

"But I didn't complete the course; after two years I realised that really wasn't what I wanted to do," he said. "With hindsight I think I went because it was other people expected; my dad's an accountant so I just thought I would go a similar route. Fortunately my parents took my decision well, they understood that simply wasn't the path for me. I was grateful for that!"

He eventually decided to turn what had been a passing interest ? law enforcement ? into a career opportunity.

"I joined the Bermuda police force in 1985 and was with them for eight years," said Mr. Watkinson. "It was certainly interesting and probably the highlight of my time as a detective constable was getting a commendation for work that helped capture Troy Shorter, who had escaped from prison after being convicted for murder."

During that period he had already started pursuing business interests part-time, starting a painting contracting company and the 'Key Guide' maps.

"I think I was just suppressing the entrepreneur side of me for some time until I finally decided to go for it with Axiom," he said.

It's clearly been a very busy six years for him and the other members of Axiom's management team: Linda Cox, who focuses on sales and vendor relations, and Denis Pitcher who is responsible for IT as well as sales. And on the personal front, he and his wife of 12 years Paula have also had their hands full raising their young family: James, 4, and Spencer, two months.

But the fast pace continues for the business, and Axiom is now poised to launch another two new developments that, according to Mr. Watkinson, will fill a couple of outstanding service gaps.

"Visitors with no access to a computer or who want to book an activity when the concierge might not be available, can now use a dedicated telephone number to gain access to the information in the database," said Mr. Watkinson. "They are then prompted through a series of commands to book the activity they want.

"We're about to launch a reservation service that is specifically geared to the local market ? BermudaRes.com. This will allow locals to make reservations for special events as well as activities, things like the Bermuda Music Festival coming up in October."

Mr. Watkinson added that BermudaRes.com will also allow local residents to access and send via e-mail detailed information on activities and excursions to family or friends overseas planning a trip to Bermuda, together with a booking link.

The company also has a representative based in Toronto, who is leveraging relationships with long-standing clients such as Dolphin Quest, to expand sales for the reservations system overseas.

"Our ultimate goal is to provide the ability for people to have 24-hour, anytime, anywhere access to what Bermuda has to offer in terms of the activities in our database, and we see growth opportunities overseas," said Mr. Watkinson. "We have to make it easy for the visitor to get the information, choose the activity that best suits their interests and then take action and book it. The efficiency of that process, followed by the actual, personal experience which hopefully exceeds their expectations and gives them a treasured memory, means that Bermuda overall ends up providing better service. Ultimately, that's what will sustain everyone in the industry and benefit us all."