Bermuda needs to improve its Government golf courses if it is to market itself as one of the greatest golfing destinations in the world, it was claimed in the Senate yesterday.

United Bermuda Party (UBP) leader in the Senate Kim Swan said it was pointless the Island promoting itself as a beach resort in the summer and a golf resort in winter, unless its courses were able to compete with facilities overseas.

He said many of Bermuda's courses were too small for international competition standards, and said there were not enough tee-times available should Bermuda wish to organise a massive golfing event.

"The golf courses cannot compete with other golf courses overseas - they are too short and not challenging enough," said Sen. Swan, who is a former international golf professional.

"They are very scenic, but the game of golf has grown enormously in the last 20 years. The golf clubs make the balls go further.

"The solution we thought prior to 1995 was that we put a world class golf facility at Morgan's Point. It needs to be comparable.

"You can't get away with saying we have more golf courses per square mile than anyone else. It's not the case anymore. Golf is coming up. It's growing in the world."

Sen. Swan made the comments during the Senate budget debate on tourism. It was a three-hour debate, in which Progressive Labour Party Senator Calvin Smith outlined Government's plans to turn the failing industry around.

He outlined Tourism Minister David Allen's raft of new initiatives designed to stimulate the vacation market, including a new African-American marketing programme, a new advertising agency being signed and a buy-one-get-one free scheme.

Also on the agenda was more emphasis on family holidays, a push towards promoting the Island beaches for summer vacations and golf courses for winter breaks, school programmes and additional training to entice people into the industry, and to ensure that those there are fully qualified.

But Sen. Swan said before any new initiatives were put in place, Government had to reach the potential tourists, and then ensure they had a wonderful experience on the Island.

At the moment, he said survey figures revealed that only 52 percent of people who visited the Island reported they had had a good experience.

He said if people had an enjoyable stay, they would go home and advertise the Island to their friends, free of charge.

And Sen. Swan said many of our tourists came from small towns in Massachusetts and along the East Coast of America, but Government failed to target those people by advertising in the small, local newspapers.

He added: "Local newspapers...this is an area we need to focus on.

"When we go to advertising agencies, they might be inclined to put us in a glossy golf digest or the Wall Street Journal.

"The community Bermuda is targeting have to live somewhere. Every morning they fix their eyes on the Salem Herald and the Winchester Times.

"These are smaller, regional newspapers that these people read on a regular basis. I would think they would be happy to take a few ads from Bermuda Department of Tourism."

Government leader in the Senate Colonel David Burch asked Sen. Swan if he knew how many local newspapers there were in that area of Massachusetts.

But Sen. Swan added: "No, I don't. But I know how much we spend on tourism.

"Tell me how much we spend on ads in the Wall Street Journal. At the moment we are scattered all over the place, when we really should be focussed in.

"Don't just go for the big glossies and pay big dollars on something that a person has to go and purchase first."

And Sen. Swan repeated the UBP cry for Government to set up a tourism authority, and for the vast part of the tourism budget to be placed in its responsibility.

He said the tourism alliance, which was launched last year involving stakeholders from within the community, was all very well but it was meaningless unless it had responsibility and a budget to work with.

He said: "Go to core fundamentals. A tourism authority would put the key ingredient back into the industry. It would be stakeholders...politics won't have anything to do with it. We have to switch the focus."

And he accused Minister David Allen of "frustrating" each of the directors of the department so far, and of operating "micro management".

Sen. Swan said he had much experience working in the tourism industry from the late 60s, working in the hotel industry as a bar and restaurant waiter, and he said he believed Bermuda had to go back to the old fashioned values, where workers talked to visitors, built relationships with them, and took interest in them.

He said that was why he believed in the past Bermuda had so many repeat visitors - because they were treated like extended family.

And he said Bermuda should now be going to the older generation, who had success with tourism, for help in trying to train young people on how to make tourists want to come back.

He said: "The people that can best train our people how to be knowledgeable about tourism is the people who taught me.

"They are anywhere between 45-years-old and 80-years-old. Many of them are still around. These people understand tourism."