Bermuda tourism is moving in the right direction due to a re-branding and re-energising of the product, said yesterday.

Speaking on the Budget debate on tourism, she said: ?All the groundwork laid to change the way things are done in tourism and the way Bermuda is seen in the international marketplace is bearing fruit.

?We are very proud of what we are doing through the Department of Tourism. Our strategy is to put tourism on the map and visitors think we meet or surpass their expectations.

?All the stakeholders have to change. The hoteliers have to change, the Bermuda Hotel Association has to change, the bureaucracy at the Department of Tourism needs to change because change is necessary in tourism.?

A national tourism strategy will emerge from the public forum held in December and from a staff retreat recently held for Tourism employees, she said.

Consultant Elliott Ettenberg?s report had help re-organise and streamline the Department of Tourism?s operations on-Island and in North America. And Bermuda was concentrating on gateway cities.

The 487,000 visitors to the Island last year contributed between $336-377 million and despite Hurricane Fabian, arrivals were only down 0.5 percent on 2002. Bermuda was measuring the spending of crews on cruise ships for the first time, estimating they pump $5-7 million a year into the economy.

Tourism will only now sponsor about eight to ten signature events designed to develop Bermuda as a year-round destination.

Last year one of them, Bermuda International Jazz Festival, was the most successful ever, attracting almost 10,000 visitors ? 40 percent up on 2002.

The 2003 visitor exit survey showed 69 percent of air arrivals were for pleasure, 19 percent for business, and 12 percent were visiting family and friends.

Repeat visitors were up from 52 percent to 55 percent, and 81 percent of people rated Bermuda better than rival Caribbean islands.

Hotel Fabian was arguably more devastating to Bermuda than September 11. There were 10,769 fewer visits last September because of Fabian ? 50 percent down on 2002 ? yet the Island still finished just 0.5 percent down on 2002 for the year.

New systems were developed to identify closely where North American visitors were coming from using their zip codes.

Ms Webb outlined a series of hotel expansions and possible new openings which would bring the number of hotel beds up from just under 2000 as a result of Fabian to 3396 by next year.

Much-needed timeshare legislation will be introduced in the current session of parliament.

The North American sales office will be re-organised with the Washington offices closing and staff moving to New York. A Dallas satellite office will be moving to Atlanta.

Sales staff have been given specific sales targets for particular areas for the first time and are excited about the prospect, said Ms Webb.

And Tourism will be able to track marketing initiatives against the numbers of people who actually visit the Island allowing Bermuda to monitor the effectiveness of these programmes.

Immigration cards are being redesigned to capture visitors? e-mail addresses and on-Island advertising is to increase.

Ms Webb said Government had ruled out the Opposition?s idea of privatising tourism. said: ?Whatever way you look at it, numbers have been in free fall for the past five years. Since the PLP, we?ve seen the most dramatic decrease in tourism.?

Although numbers had been falling modestly for 12 years, the slump was ?precipitous? after 1998.

Overall arrivals were down 73,000 (15 percent), air numbers were 120,000 (30 percent) less, while cruise figures were up 38,000 (30 percent). And tourism spending was down $400 million in the same period.

?We have got it wrong and we are going in the wrong direction when air arrivals drops and cruise numbers go up. No matter how you look at it, it is a crisis,? he said.

He agreed with Ms Webb that this season will be better than last year ? with perhaps even a 20 percent increase ? but the Island was starting from a low base of few hotel rooms, and it would be boosted by the strong pound, Euro and Canadian dollars.

The PLP had still not produced a tourism plan despite promising this in 1998, and the UBP had a plan.

As Ms Webb said a national plan would emerge from December?s public meeting and a retreat by tourism staff, he said: ?Where is it and when are we going to get it??

And he attacked the minister for lashing out at anyone who dared offer criticism of the Island?s tourism product.

?If you are going to get criticism, that?s reality. You have got to get used to it. It is what it is.?

The minister was looking for ?false comfort? when she said the Island?s stakeholders should not criticise and he urged her to ?stop shooting the messenger?.

The on-Island product should be improved, yet the PLP had consistently cut the budget of the Visitor Industry Partnership.

Mr. Dodwell and Ms Webb clashed over the minister calling former Premiers Sir John Swan, Bermuda Hotel Association president Norman Mastalir and Tourism Action Now founder Tony Brannon ?fools? for being critical when interviewed for a paid Financial Times supplement.

Ms Webb said: ?I said there was an opportunity for us to show what is positive about Bermuda (and) you don?t take an adversarial approach when you are on the world stage.

?These three people spoke about their personal agendas and for that they did a disservice to Bermuda and for all of us that paid for that advertising.

?The three of them were fools when they should have taken the opportunity to promote Bermuda.?

Mr. Dodwell retorted: ?Sir John Swan has been called a fool. Norman Mastalir has been called a fool and Tony Brannon has been called a fool. It is a sad day in this country on the floor of this House to say that.

?If you want people to come on board, you can?t do that. You don?t get it with acidic attacks like that.?

He said he did not believe television advertising offered the best value because it was too much of a scattergun approach.

He said the Elliott Ettenberg report should have been made public instead of being leaked to the Mid-Ocean News.

Ms Webb claimed it was in the public domain because stakeholders such as hoteliers had seen it, but Mr. Dodwell said it was deliberately ?hidden? from the general public and media because there was bad news in it about how Bermuda spends much more than competitors marketing the Island.

While he supported closing Tourism?s Washington office, he pleaded with Government not to shut the Boston office because it had great relations with wholesalers.

Mr. Dodwell said he was ?extremely worried? that damage done to the Island?s beaches after Fabian had still not been repaired.

He produced photographs from Horseshoe Beach, John Smith?s Bay and Church Bay showing damaged steps which were a danger to Bermudians and visitors alike.

If these beaches had been owned by hotels, they would not be allowed to remain an eyesore, but said this was ?part of the culture that says it?s okay?.

He urged Government to take drastic steps to make the repairs because the tourism season was about to begin and this would be off-putting to visitors.

The Hotel Concessions Act had not been the saviour of the industry, as the PLP claimed. It was helpful, but the duty relief introduced by the UBP in 1991 had been a real lifeline to hotels.

He said Government needed to sit down with the private sector to develop Morgan?s Point and criticised them for doing nothing to tackle the problem of the lack of entertainment at night.

While praising Transport Minister Dr. Ewart Brown for bringing so many new flights in, he said it would have been better if there were different airlines competing from the same gateways.