Last year Hurricane Fabian dealt tourism a stunning blow ? this year the storm took the shape of Hurricane Renee.

Fortunately, the 2004 storm stuck to the political/public spheres without leaving a widespread wake of destruction in its path. But Renee Webb?s fiery resignation as Tourism Minister in July certainly headlined the 2004 tourism saga.

Hopes were high as the year began, with many observing that, after the destruction of Hurricane Fabian, there was nowhere to go but up. In January, hoteliers cheered increases in bookings for the tourism season while Ms Webb predicted at least a seven percent increase in arrivals over last year.

Shadow Minister David Dodwell was convinced the increase could reach as high as 20 percent, adding that if arrivals were not increased this year, something was terribly wrong.

Ms Webb also dramatically narrowed the focus of tourism in the first months of 2004, moving with characteristic speed to implement the recommendations of consultant Elliot Ettenberg. The Ettenberg report called for Bermuda to focus on the prime market along the US East Coast, instead of scattering marketing (and funds) all over the world.

Relations between Ms Webb and her staff at the Department of Tourism were worsening, however. Ms Webb herself called for an investigation into complaints at her department made against her by staff ? an investigation which, though declaring she had a ?problematic management style?, cleared her of any more serious wrongdoing.

But problems with staff continued, after seven local applicants for the post of Tourism Director were turned down in the wake of Judith Hall-Bean?s departure in November, 2003. At the end of June, former assistant director for marketing at Tourism Cherie Whitter was named Director while still under Ms Webb?s watch.

Some major changes to the Bermuda?s hotel properties took place in the year. In March, duty relief for hoteliers doing major refurbishments was extended amid concerns the relief being used to fund the building of condos.

Almost every new hotel development on the Island this year consisted of the new combination of residential units built along with the construction of tourist units. In March, plans for a $350 million hotel at Tucker?s Point to be completed by 2007 were announced. By June, the Tuckers Point Club had completed beach, tennis and golf facilities and town houses and estate homes on its 200-acre site on the former Marriott Castle Harbour Hotel.

At the Newstead/Belmont sites a similar model of residential/tourist units is being built, with the hotel rooms at the Newstead site tripling while Belmont is converted from a hotel to a mainly residential development.

In March, after purchasing the Sonesta Beach Hotel from its previous owner last year, Clifford Schorer chose Wyndham Hotels to take over the management of the hotel. The extensive renovations to the former Sonesta include plans for housing ? though Mr. Schorer maintained that hotel rooms are the first priority.

Plans for the ultra-luxury Cliffs Hotel were also announced in April, with houses due to open in 2006 and the hotel in 2007.

One exception to the hotel rooms/housing combination development was 9 Beaches, the 96-room resort planned at Daniel?s Head. The newly-revamped funky resort will offer ?soft adventure? with a young-at-heart edge and, according to owners Mr. Dodwell and Russell Urban, will open early next year.

The other exception to the hotel rooms/housing development combo, for now, was the controversy-plagued Coco Reef. After some six months and millions of dollars worth of renovations, the hotel reopened ? on schedule ? in May. Some 30 tourist villa units were planned along with the refurbishments to the main hotel.

The good feeling was short-lived, with staff strikes and complaints about management at the hotel (particularly Trinidadian-born director Andrea Jennings) as well as the precipitous drop in service levels.

Damning statements from the Auditor General Larry Dennis in July declaring the lease awarded to Mr. Jefferis was so radically altered it should have been re-tendered did not help matters. The changes included an extension of the lease from 21 to 50 years (with the rent waived for the first five years), nearly two acres of extra land ? and the ability to build the tourist villas which, Mr. Dennis observed, could later be converted to condos.

Under fire from the Opposition, including accusations of cronyism, Ms Webb declared the Auditor General?s report erroneous, and vigorously defended the lease. The hotel had been bleeding money for more than a decade, and drastic changes had to be made, she said.

With Mr. Dennis stating the Bermuda College Board was not consulted over the deal and the Opposition calling for heads to roll, Ms Webb stuck to her guns for nearly two weeks. Then, on July 20, she abruptly resigned from Cabinet, citing ?irreconcilable differences? with Premier Alex Scott. Days later a source revealed John Jefferis? secret links to the PLP: in 1998 the hotelier funded a consultant for the party.

The Scott and Webb show continued, culminating in the Premier?s now infamous ?I?m the Man? quote. ?I mean, come on,? Ms Webb responded. ??I?m the Man???

A swift Cabinet reshuffle saw Deputy Premier and Transport Minister Ewart Brown named as the new Tourism Minister, giving him arguably more power than anyone else in Government save the Premier. The ?natural synergy? between Transport and Tourism was heralded as Dr. Brown outlined his simple recipe for success: to get the pop and sizzle back into Bermuda?s tourism product. More beds, cheaper flights, and a Bermuda people will want to come back to were the order of the day.

Though admitting she was glad to have some shelter from public scrutiny, once Parliament re-opened in November Ms Webb proved that as a backbencher she would not go quietly into the night. When Dr. Brown revealed that Tourism will be departing somewhat from the Ettenberg report Ms Webb viewed the move with suspicion, noting he was departing from Cabinet policy and observing that a change of Minister was not a change of Government.

Repeating again the reasoning behind the report?s recommendation to focus marketing on the East Coast, where there was more than enough of a market to satisfy Bermuda?s needs, Ms Webb questioned the bid to market Bermuda in Europe ? which had failed before. She also said she would welcome a Tourism Authority on the Island, taking the industry largely out of the hands of Government and into the private sector ? though the Authority would be answerable to the Tourism Minister.

Visitor arrivals for the third quarter revealed the urgency of the tourism situation, however. Though air arrivals increased by a pleasing 10,000 over the third quarter of 2003, the overall number of visitors to the Island for the year was down by some 11,000 at the end of September in comparison to last year.

The year was rounded out with yet another fiery resignation from a controversial leader: Andrea Jennings, hotel director at Coco Reef, announced her resignation from the post effective December 31. Tourism in Bermuda, she declared, is a sinking ship, with too many Bermudian workers forgetting about the number one priority: the customer.