The Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) personally lobbied Bermuda to join the trade body, Tourism Minister Renee Webb said yesterday.

Secretary-General Francesco Frangialli has threatened not to seek re-election because he is so frustrated Bermuda's application for associate membership has been put on hold because of questions over the Island's national status.

Ms Webb said last night that Mr Frangialli is so upset about the WTO's decision because he is personally involved in trying to get Bermuda to join.

The WTO will re-examine the issue again today at its conference in Beijing, China, which has been marked by controversy over Bermuda's application being deferred.

Bermuda's application to join was rejected because of objections from Spain that the Island is a British colony, not a nation.

Ms Webb told The Royal Gazette yesterday that Mr. Frangialli urged her to seek membership of the WTO when they met at a Peace Through Tourism conference in Geneva, in February.

And Mr. Frangialli spoke at the Caribbean Hotel Association investment conference in Bermuda this April. He later spoke to the Bermuda Alliance for Tourism (BAT) when he extolled the virtues of joining the WTO.

"I was on a panel at the conference in Geneva and the Secretary-General sought me out, that's why the Secretary-General is taking it (the WTO putting the Island's application on hold) so personally," said Ms Webb.

"We got the UK to agree, because the UK needs to be in agreement, and off we went to do the application."

According to the ehotelier.com website, the Philippines Tourism Secretary Richard Gordon said: "We have been through all these crises and now we present ourselves with a crisis of our own making because Bermuda causes disagreements in our Executive Council."

Ms Webb said it was in Bermuda's best interests to join the WTO.

"Bermuda does not live in the world by itself and we need to form alliances and join associations that could benefit us," she said.

"The WTO is a world-renowned organisation and it is always good to get information. It is for the same reason people join organisations such as the United Nations."

She said yesterday she was surprised shadow Tourism Minister David Dodwell said he was in the dark about Bermuda's application because Mr. Frangialli had been on the Island at the Caribbean Hotel Association conference in April and had spoken to BAT.

"He spoke to stakeholders, he spoke to BAT, so it is surprising David doesn't know. But he doesn't know, he doesn't know," said Ms Webb.

Mr. Dodwell replied: "I'm not part of BAT. I did speak at the conference. It is one thing for him to speak, but did he announce Bermuda was applying?

"I didn't know about it and how many other Bermudians knew about it?"

Meanwhile, Mr. Dodwell said the Island was now beginning to realise what a crisis it faced over tourism and he renewed the United Bermuda Party's call for an independent tourism authority.

The UBP had called for an extra $10m to be spent on subsidising airlines and marketing the Island.

And he accused the Progressive Labour Party of showing no sense of urgency in dealing with the crisis.

"People need to know there is a real plan to address this situation, especially before a supplementary budget increase involving tax-payers money is granted and spent," he said.

"The PLP government must produce goals, timelines, and an allocation of responsibilities. Our people need to see a tourism roadmap from our government.

"Our people need a sense of urgency or action. The people are telling us they don't see that sense of urgency from this government. The fact is the PLP government is simply not providing it."

Mr. Dodwell said Ms Webb had indicated another report on tourism was coming, but he said there was now a time for action, not more reports.

"The answers are there - Monitor, On The Frontier, Conduit, all produced significant results, product upgrades etc - all so that we can compete in the modern tourism world.

"Our challenge is implementation and process. Simply put, we have to just do it."