Ideas to boost Bermuda as a tourist destination for UK and European visitors are coming thick and fast. How about a few rental two-seater Smart cars ? a trendy, miniature urban car ? for visitors to take out rather than having only the moped option for personal transport?

Or the ability to buy an alcoholic drink while relaxing at a public beach?

These are some of the questions on the mind of Thomas MacDonald, the man in charge of Bermuda?s new in-house tourism team in London.

In the past few months 60 billboard posters have been rolled out at suburban train stations across the UK encouraging people to take a break in Bermuda.

And in glossy magazines and heavyweight newspapers adverts are appearing for Bermuda on a regular basis, some at the behest of the new tourism office in Borough High Street, close to London?s iconic Tower Bridge.

Other adverts have been placed by British Airways as it promotes its new seven-day schedule flying to and from the Island which began last week.

There is a ?synergy? that Mr. MacDonald has not seen before in the efforts to revive the Island?s tourism. It is coming from all directions, the Department of Tourism, the airlines and the hotels themselves.

The UK operation has been trimmed down but given a clearer direction, said Mr. MacDonald. There are only three members of staff ? half the number employed to promote Bermuda by the former tourism contractor Hills Balfour.

That $3.5m contract was ended in favour of a more stream-lined, in-house tourism team.

Mr. MacDonald is no stranger to the tourism beat having been based in Boston for eight years before being re-assigned to London.

Between the switch he returned to Bermuda to update his knowledge of what the Island has to offer and meet with hoteliers to learn what their aspirations are.

?We went to 14 hotels with strong business from the UK or who wanted to attract business from Britain. I asked them what they wanted,? said Mr. MacDonald.

He also spoke with tour operators. From that has came a clearer vision for the way forward and the early fruits are now visible with advertising campaigns now visible in chosen magazines and publications and billboards in certain suburban locations around the country.

What is giving added impetus is the push by British Airways to attract customers for its expanded daily flights from Gatwick Airport. The company has been running its own campaign to encourage customers to give Bermuda a chance.

It also has 400 more seats to fill each week as a result of going to a seven-day schedule, adding extra scope to drop prices to encourage more travellers.

There is a realisation, said Mr. MacDonald, that Bermuda is competing for the visitors who take holidays in places like the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean.

Like Bermuda, the Seychelles are around a six or seven hour flight from the UK and have a reputation for having a degree of exclusivity and quality that people are prepared to pay more to enjoy.

?That is the upmarket audience that we need to be speaking to,? said Mr. MacDonald. ?We can?t compete with the Caribbean because their rates are low and ours are high. We can?t compete with them in the winter because they have temperatures around 85F. But what we find is that for Brits it is an attraction to go to Bermuda in the winter months because our temperatures are ?hot enough?.?

One hurdle he is trying to overcome is educating hoteliers about the economic sense in accommodating UK and European visitors. There has often been a clash with North American visitors, but the US and Canadian visitors who arrive on the Island for an extended weekend ? perhaps to enjoy some golf ? often tie-up bed space that could have been offered to interested UK or European visitors.

?Because UK people take longer vacations they are not fly-by, they have the luxury of 14 days vacation whereas Americans are there for only four or five days,? he explained.

?Some hotels have been there own worst enemy by selling weekend deals that start on a Thursday for example, so when a UK person wants to book for a fortnight they can?t do so because there is a weekend in the middle all booked up.

?So, we have to break through that and teach the hotels to be more flexible,? said Mr. MacDonald, and that includes having faith to hold on to prime vacation slots so they are available when the longer-staying UK visitors book-up.

?When UK visitors come they spend more on the Island that their American or Canadian counterparts.?

He believes hotels should not be afraid to ?shuffle around? North American visitors who are taking short vacation weekends in order to ensure a two-week booking from a UK or European holidaymaker.

An interesting aspect of the Bermuda tourism product, in Mr. MacDonald?s eyes, is the fact that it is often ?more British than the British?.

By that he means such things as the cleanliness, manners and orderly conduct of people. There is also a high level of safety on the Island and alluring pristine beaches. The UK holidaymaker is someone who wants to ?touch and feel? the true, local culture of a place, according to Mr. MacDonald. Recently announced plans to turn Court Street into a signature Island experience, similar to that offered by New Orleans? French Quarter, would go down well with British and European visitors, he said.

?These people want to go to Caseys or to Court Street. They don?t want to touch only Front Street.

?They are more independent visitors and if it is raining they will grab a Mac or an umbrella and still go out and see something,? said Mr. MacDonald.

The typical UK or European visitor is also different from their North American counterpart in that they have more time to spend on the Island and use this extra time to visit a place thoroughly, maybe spending half a day at the Vermont Museum, the Aquarium, Dockyard or Gibbs Hill Lighthouse.

Providing more night-life activities is something that needs to be looked at, said Mr. MacDonald. As is the restriction on alcohol being served at public beaches.

Most Europeans? lifestyles include daily access to a social drinking experience. Finding they are unable to readily buy a beer when they relax on a beach can be viewed as a negative.

?Bermuda?s number one selling point is its people. But Bermudians have become so busy with their lives to such an extent that, where once when a tourist might have asked where the church was and they would have been taken there in person, now a Bermudian will simply point to it.

?We used to take visitors into our homes and give them tea and these people left the Island with an unparalleled experience. We?ve not been doing that for many years because Bermudians have become so busy.?

That is an area that all Bermudians can address to boost the Island?s image and tourism experience, however there are plenty of plus sides for Bermuda, said Mr. MacDonald.

The aforementioned cleanliness of the Island, the strength of the British pound on the exchange rate, and the advertising drive that is including magazines such as Harpers and Queens and national Sunday newspapers.

Mr. MacDonald said there is also an interesting trend for UK and European visitors to have a twin-centre holiday stay by flying to New York or another US city for a week and then going to Bermuda for the second week before flying home.

The idea of allowing visitors to hire a small Smart car ? a two-seat vehicle almost as long as it is wide ? should also be looked into as an alternative to having visitors only able to hire a moped or rely on public transport and taxis, said Mr. MacDonald.

The tourism drive for Bermuda has stepped up a gear in the UK and Europe, he said. The adverts are appearing more regularly and at targeted audiences who are viewed as willing and able to come and experience the Island.

Getting a major league hotel group on the Island, such as a Ritz or Four Seasons, would boost the credibility of Bermuda as a top of the market destination, he feels.

Even people who could not afford to stay at such an establishment would take comfort from knowing that such a big player was prepared to invest in and operate on the Island.

With a new once-a-week flight from Munich starting in June, Mr. MacDonald and his team will be interested to hear feedback from the notoriously discerning Germans.

But it shouldn?t all be about naval-gazing, as Mr. MacDonald points out: ?Sometimes we can?t step back and see that Bermuda is quite impressive and it can deliver for the most part. We have to cut ourselves some slack.?

He added: ?I think we have a bright future in the UK. And when you have a blue chip airline like British Airways prepared to take an aircraft off another route and put it on yours that says something.?