Retailers have been urged to join the Chamber of Commerce to ensure that they have a strong lobbying position with Government over the industry's future.

This is according to George Grundmuller, chairman of the visitor retail division of the Chamber, speaking after the division's Annual General Meeting yesterday.

Mr. Grundmuller said that with low visitor numbers it was more important than ever for the sector to band together.

Bermuda retailers have been hard hit by the fall in the number of tourists in the last few years and have been lobbying Government to remove duty from products bought by tourists.

But in the last Budget they were not given the tax relief they had hoped for.

Mr. Grundmuller said that lobbying for tax relief was still on their agenda for the coming 12 months and urged more tourism-related businesses to join to help lift the industry out of the doldrums.

He said in his chairman's letter: "It is vital for us to stay close to political issues and to speak up as a cohesive group in matters which concern us. Success in this area depends highly on our willingness to stand together and use the combined economic power of our businesses.

"Despite the fact that we weren't successful in our main goal to reduce duty rates for the goods we import, it is important that we continue to lobby on our behalf. Only then can we earn the right to criticise and speak out publicly on regulations and policies we do not agree on.'' Speaking after the AGM, when he was elected to serve as chairman for another year, he urged businesses to join the chamber.

He said: "During the last year in the division a lot of work was done. We established with the Minister of Finance two monthly meetings on the state of the industry. We have actively participated in decisions on major regulations and legislation that came through such as CURE and the Employment Act to make our position known.

"We have had some success and some we have had to compromise. But it is very important for businesses to join the chamber and to speak for the industry as a whole.'' The division currently has about 50 members, including large department stores and shops in both the east end and west end.

But Mr. Grundmuller said there were about 200 businesses who are not members whose voices should be heard and urged them to contact him at the Phoenix Stores where he is the President and Chief Executive Officer, to join.

Stand up and be counted Mr. Grundmuller added in the chairman's letter: "The year 2000 was a challenging year for the visitor-orientated retailers on the Island. We saw air arrival figures deteriarate even further from an already low base.

"This impacted each and every one of us and I know you are extremely concerned about the outlook for 2001. With this background it is even more important that we, as a group, stand united in our goals and objectives.

"Strength comes in numbers so I strongly encourage each of you to actively participate in our work groups and monthly meetings this year. I do believe that we can achieve our objectives when we work together and act as a cohesive group, but it is important that every voice is heard and this can only be achieved when you attend and contribute to regular meetings.'' Also elected to the executive committee and work groups were English Sports Shop's Ronnie Maughan who was placed in charge of `Human Capital', a sector which aims to attract more people to work in retail and Tienda de Tobaco's Kristina Viera to public relations.