Visitors have reacted with alarm to suggestions like casinos and nude beaches to revive the tourism industry made at a public forum on Thursday night.

Bermuda.com founder Tony Brannon argued for nude beaches, and some of the panel backed his calls for a casino.

Lawyer Julian Hall, a supporter of casinos, described Bermuda as ?bore? and said visitors need to be entertained.

But tourists contacted yesterday urging Bermuda to ?go back to the basics? of Bermuda?s beauty, friendliness and tranquillity to revive tourism.

Carol Pierce from Louisiana said: ?Bermuda is my home away from home. There is so much positive so don?t go down the route of casinos and nude beaches.

?Please don?t destroy the natural beauty, the natural friendliness, the natural ambience you have that makes me want to come.

?I come here instead of Hawaii. You need to keep what you have and play up the positives.?

Visitor Analisa Afonso said: ?What allures me to Bermuda is its people, the food and the beaches... most of all its simplicity.

?I am only 26 years old and I have never been to the Island for romance. I know that is a big seller for tourism though. I always travel to Bermuda with my best-friend who lives in Pittsburgh.

?What attracts us to Bermuda is that it has an awe about it! I recently visited Aruba for one week and in my opinion it was a dump. Most Bostonians love the constant climate in Aruba, rave about the food and the beaches... I thought it was filthy!

?Bermuda is so clean and pristine, that I believe I have become a biased traveller because I?ve been spoiled by your island. I believe this is a major part of retaining your tourism income. I also am fully confident that these reasons are what really separates Bermuda from the Caribbean islands.

?If Bermuda does choose to pursue casinos, I suggest keeping your table minimums fairly high compared to the average casino. This will sort out the Atlantic City table dwellers.

?We tourists love you and your island as is. Take it back to the basics and you?ll remember why you love it!?

Sheila Lemire wrote: ?Radical change such as what is being suggested will bring tourism in Bermuda to a grinding halt.

?We vacation in Bermuda twice yearly, (three times this year) and are already booked for March 2004.

?We return back because of what Bermuda is, friendly faces and world class services. Not the artificial hype that the panel is promoting.

?Nude beaches! Casinos! I hope not. Mr. Hall you are the bore! And Mr. Brannon you don?t know what?s Trump!?

But Doug Smith wrote: ?Over the past 35 years, I have been a visitor 55 times. The one thing not mentioned in your article was the cost of staying a week in Bermuda, the cost of meals out, and so on.

?Compared to other islands, most a lot more distant, Bermuda is nice but too costly. On the plus side Bermuda is two hours from 50 million people.

?Having gambling (I don?t), good entertainment, and great food at affordable prices should make it a vacation spot of choice for many of these people.

?Somebody used the phrase ?give tourists what they want?, a statement that might mean people are about to focus on the problem.

?Efforts over the past few years have focussed on begging people to come to the ?old? Bermuda, not facilitating change to ?make? people want to visit.?

The public forum was held by Tourism Minister Renee Webb to get ideas from a diverse group of experts on how to revive tourism. All the views expressed were from individuals, not Government.