New forms of time-share ownership known as fractionals are helping to boost tourism, agree Government and Opposition politicians.

Tourism Minister Renee Webb said they offered investment opportunities for Bermudians and helped finance new hotel building in the island.

With fractionals, visitors can buy into a property and use it for longer than the traditional one week typical under time-shares.

She said that in some fractionals it was possible for the investors to let them out to other people and then get some of the revenue.

Ms Webb said: "It's a way of spurring hotel development and getting capital. It's worked so far at Tucker's Point where they are already selling units."

She said most new applications for tax breaks under the Hotel Concession Act included a fractional element.

Fractionals were discussed at the The Seventh Annual Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Investment Conference at the Fairmont Southampton Hotel last week.

Government Sen. Calvin Smith backed the idea and said Bermuda would be an ideal location for adapting the fractional concept.

Sen. Smith said: "You get first class services because you use the hotel services."

He said it was a myth that timeshare owners brought all their groceries with them and spent nothing during their vacation.

"People in fractional time shares spend far, far more than the ordinary tourist. The ordinary tourist spends on food and accommodation.

"But the fractional guy is not spending any more on accommodation because he has already bought it so he spends a lot more on food, for example."

United Bermuda Party tourism spokesman David Dodwell said traditional timeshares were no longer applicable but the way forward was fractional development in condos and hotels and lease-backs.

He said hotels were not being financed in traditional ways.

"This is a more creative way to get get hotel development and get them operating.You can go into a hotel and you have no idea of who owns what. The guest unit might be owned by an individual or a corporation."

He said the Tourism Department was looking at this. "We have to catch up fast."

Tucker's Point Club executive vice president Peter Parker said there was great interest in the fractional concept in Bermuda.

He said it was an unique way of financing a hotel and boosting the tourism economy but the overall result would seem very similar to a hotel. Tourists would behave similarly but get extra advantages.

Whereas time-share owners merely get a right to use a property, fractional investors get ownership.

Tucker's Point fractional units are being sold in tenths, giving investors the right to use them for roughly 36.5 days a year.

Already about 40 investors have bought in, including one Bermudian.

Mr. Parker said fractionals were a critical element at Tucker's Point which includes hotel beds, a golf course and residential element.

"It's the right product at the right time at the right place."

He said many people who owned holiday homes were switching to fractionals because it meant they didn't have year-round maintenance headaches.

But Mr. Parker said the fractional investment led to more flexibility. "Since you own it, if the unit is empty you can come and stay there. You just pay the daily maintenance fee."

He said although cash invested by people buying fractionals couldn't be used to finance the development it was a very important element in assuring other investors their money could be covered.