Senators debated the tourism industry yesterday, with Government trumpeting new hotel building while the Opposition United Bermuda Party renewed its call for a tourism authority.

Sen. Raymond Tannock (PLP) said the Hotel Concessions Act 2000 had helped the Island to reinvest and 2005 would see new rooms come on line.

On the agenda were 50 new rooms at Belmont Hills, the reopening of Daniel's Head with 81 cottages, the first phase of Tucker's Point and 62 new units at Grotto Bay with a further 53 planned while Royal Palms was adding 70 new units.

"This shows the level of commitment of hotel owners," said Sen. Tannock.

"(2005) plans to be a bumper year. It's planned that Bermuda will have 63 hotels in 2005."

And three new properties are also planned, including the The Cliff Hotel in Warwick, the re-opening of Newstead, which is still subject to planning approval, and the city hotel on Par-la-Ville car park.

That would net the Island 66 hotels said Sen. Tannock. "We are getting results through partnership."

Sen. Kim Swan (UBP) repeated the Opposition's call for a tourism authority and said tourism used to be run successfully by private business but was now struggling under Government bureaucracy.

However Sen. Walwyn Hughes (Ind) noted that Tourism Minister Renee Webb had already ruled this out.

Sen. Swan said Ms Webb was micro-managing and upsetting her staff. He said Government was spending $35 million this year on tourism but other destinations were getting much better results for less dollars.

Government needed to restructure. "Bermuda needs to benefit from what our consultants are advising us," said Sen. Swan. "They're telling us we are spending too much."

He praised the work of Transport Minister Ewart Brown in bringing new airlines to the Island, but more needed to be done to attract people between November and March.

Those months used to be known as the golf season, noted Sen. Swan, who said players in the Good Will tournament should be targeted in marketing programmes.

Nothing had (been) said about Morgan's Point, added Sen. Swan, but that type of opportunity was being seized on in other destinations where top architects would come and help build international-class courses which would attract players from all over the world by word of mouth alone.

Senators Tannock and Swan clashed over whether Sen Tannock was simply reading out someone else's brief in his introduction to the debate.

Sen. Tannock said it was a Government statement with his own interjections while Sen. Hughes noted it had been "pretty similar" to Tourism Minister Renee Webb's statement in the House.

Sen. Swan said the Bermuda Alliance for Tourism was underfunded, although Sen. Tannock later said it had been given $350,000 over three years but had access to another $2.7 million.

Senator Walter Roban (PLP) said Government was deeply committed to tourism. "This Government does not intend to see tourism slip any further than it has."

He said the incentives under the Hotel Concessions Act were yielding results and he said it was not in the country's interests to return tourism back to small group of elite businessmen.

Hotels were at last being rebuilt after years of stagnation while Bermuda competed head on with global players, added Sen Roban.

Senator Carol Ann Bassett (Independent) praised the Hotel Concessions Act which had boosted staff training and local entertainment. And she welcomed the inclusion of tourism into the curriculum, which she hoped would spark a new interest in the industry.

She noted that cruise ship arrivals were around 40 percent of the total (visitor arrivals) but provided only 20 percent of revenue.