Tourism and Transport Minister Ewart Brown told a crowd of about 50 that tourists ?in essence? had become ?a side-show in Bermuda? and he did not want it to be that way.

?We expect people to come to Bermuda and enjoy it on their own? over the years we have reduced the role of Bermudians in this visitor experience,? Dr. Brown said. ?Bermudians have to a certain extent become spectators to what we call tourism.?

Dr. Brown was speaking at a Product Development Seminar at Elbow Beach last night ? the second such seminar organised by the Department of Tourism this year.

Dr. Brown invited those attending to share their ?creativity? and ideas on ways to maximise the tourism experience.

But responding to a question on the Island?s tourist capacity, Dr. Brown said when the public transportation system was stretched to the point that the quality of service was suffering, Bermuda would know capacity had been reached.

He said he hoped to ?throw away the bus schedule? ? and have enough busses so that anyone in Bermuda would know that every 15 minutes there would be a bus.

He also said that passenger processing at the Airport needs to be made more efficient.

?We need to look at the quality of service we are giving people and that helps us to determine whether we have reached numbers, past which we should not go,? he said, but it would be a matter of ?trial and error?.

Dr. Brown said efficiency helps to move people around and the tourism experience should be broadened so that visitors to Bermuda do not feel that they have ?seen Bermuda? because they?ve seen the aquarium or the lighthouse or Fort St. Catherine, because the product has expanded to give people more choices.

On the question of ?mega? cruise ships and the development of Bermuda?s three ports, Dr. Brown said a waterfront task force was formed by Government consisting of about 19 people from a wide cross-section of the community ? bankers, architects, planners and politicians.

Their job, he said, was to come up with a plan for Bermuda?s three ports.

?No decisions have been made about what kind of ships we?re going to have where,? he said. ?What we have said is that the trend in the industry is towards larger ships. Now Bermuda may decide that we are not going to have larger ships ? we don?t want to play in that arena anymore ? that may be the recommendation of the waterfront task force.?

He said the three groups representing St. George?s, Hamilton and Dockyard had been set up and that Dockyard had decided ? because it was Wedco?s position ? that they wanted to develop another pier in order to become a first-class cruise ship port.

?The other two ports have a little more politics to work with,? Dr. Brown said.

?We?re not interested in trying to impose any particular size ship on any particular port and if they decide they don?t want to widen Town Cut, that?s a decision of the people of that town,? he said looking at St. George?s Mayor E. Michael Jones who was standing in the doorway.

Following a short address by Tourism Director Cherie Whitter a question and answer session was held ? which set the stage for the rest of the evening.

Some of the topics of discussion included developing Bermuda?s entertainment product, developing winning excursions and negotiating and contracting with cruise lines for the 2006 season.

Following this, vendors were given the opportunity to discuss new ideas and proposals with cruise ship representatives directly, as well as with Bermuda Alliance for Tourism (BAT) representative Wayne Smith.

Cruise lines participating in the seminar included Princess Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Lines and Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines.