Bermuda is on the right track with the Progressive Labour Party's (PLP) tourism policies, said two newly minted candidates on Friday.

And the Opposition United Bermuda Party (UBP) was criticised for not recognising that Bermuda should have become a more global player at least 15 years ago.

Smiths West candidate Scott Simmons said that as far as he was concerned Bermuda's tourism product was "good" but he wanted to see the Island recognise the frontline workers a bit more. "We need to have a national understanding that the people who every single day (do the frontline work) - from the person who washes the pots, from the person who meets the taxis that pull up in our international hotels and guest houses around this Island," he said.

"They are our frontline. They're the ones that encourage individuals to continue to come to Bermuda."

Leopold Kuchler, the ruling party's candidate for district 23, or Paget West, said that it was urgent to continue policies which ensured that Bermuda became a global player in the industry.

And he criticised the United Bermuda Party (UBP) for not recognising 15 years ago that the tourism market was a global one.

"We cannot focus any longer on the eastern part of the United States. Tourism has gone global ever since the Internet.

" Unfortunately 15 to 20 years ago the boat has been missed. We have to bring this opportunity back immediately," Mr. Kuchler said.

"Looking at tourism as it has been developed for the last 35 years by the previous government and looking at tourism as it has been started by the current government there is very much a differentiation," said Mr. Kuchler. He said, based on his own "analysis and studies" the previous government had failed to expand its focus from the "traditional touristic basis" but the PLP government's approach was "international and global".

"The current Minister has very well implemented strategies which have global meaning... and this must continue to be pursued."

He said that 15 years ago the former administration made the "major mistake" of not recognising the implications of the development of the Internet.

"That left Bermuda behind and led to the decline of tourism," he added.

"How do we bring tourism back? We must participate internationally. We must be reckoned to be international players.

"We must have a stake on the international scene. That has not been done until five years ago. Just recently the Minister undertook appropriate measures and now we can see that we are going forward into the future so we have to support the current Minister's policies, and we have to continue on that track to a secure future because tourism is a major employer."

He added that it was also important to educate Bermuda's youth because tourism was about more than arrival figures.

"You must care for the future, you must care for the children of Bermuda, for the youth of Bermuda. We have to employ them, you have to educate them (so) that they are employable."