An animated exchange regarding the steady decline in tourism expenditure dominated the motion to adjourn yesterday, with Opposition MPs calling once again for Tourism Minister David Allen to resign.

"Just kiss and say good-bye. Put him somewhere else, for Bermuda's sake," said Opposition House Leader Maxwell Burgess. "Why he has not been fired has baffled me."

This coming after Opposition Leader Dr. Grant Gibbons said that the monies coming into Bermuda from invested income almost exceeded that coming into the Island from tourist spending.

According to statistics, visitors to Bermuda spent $350 million last year in comparison to $487 million in 1998.

"Tourism is not only bottoming out, but we are going to become strictly dependent on international business," said Dr. Gibbons.

Dr. Gibbons criticised the Government for not keeping its promise to revitalise tourism and said that the problem seemed to be getting worse.

"There's a lot of nervousness out there," he said.

But Mr. Allen refuted the Opposition's claim and said that the UBP was trying to paint an uglier picture than necessary.

He warned that poorly chosen words were sending poor messages to international businesses although he did not think they were listening to the UBP's claims.

"Would $85 million be invested in the Fairmont hotels if they were?" he asked.

While he admitted that tourism was not doing as well as he would have hoped, in the wake of the events of September 11, Bermuda had fared better than most in the Caribbean he claimed.

Mr. Allen raved that this week's Neo Soul festival is almost sold-out with nearly eight hundred African-Americans booked to visit the Island for the event.

"We are showing an interest in a market that the UBP ignored," he said.

And he insisted there was a future in Bermuda's tourism industry and cited the development of the Palmetto Suites and the upcoming Lantana and Belmont projects as indicators of a positive future.

"Are all of these people fools?" he asked. "I don't think so. Clearly there are good things happening in Bermuda, but there have been a lot of pot holes."

But Mr. Burgess was adamant that the Tourism Minister had to be replaced: "We've seen $130 million gone into the night under David Allen. He'll starve us. I predict we'll starve," he said.

He also alluded that the country would have a lot in common with Caricom countries if Mr. Allen remained at the helm of the Department of Tourism and pondered why Government kept giving Tourism more to spend when "Mr Allen was bringing in less and less."