are looking for, tourism officials said yesterday.

Louis Harris and Associates, Inc. of New York surveyed 955 frequent and very frequent travellers and found that of 20 different considerations in planning a trip, a safe destination was rated as "very important'' most often.

The next considerations the American holidaymakers ranked very important most often were natural beauty, low-cost air fare or transportation packages, and creating their own itineraries, in that order.

Mr. Paul Zar, director of sales in North America for Bermuda's Department of Tourism, said the findings had "very positive implications for Bermuda.'' For a time, Bermuda's familiarity almost worked against it as travellers were attracted to new destinations with exotic-sounding names, Mr. Zar said.

Now, "because the world is such an unforgiving place at times, and because it is unpredictable, (travellers) have started to retreat a little bit,'' Mr. Zar said in a telephone interview from New York. "They're becoming more concerned ... with a destination that is predictably nice, and that's what Bermuda is.'' Travellers here know the Police do not even carry guns, he said.

Mr. Gary Phillips, Bermuda's Director of Tourism, said visitors "are looking for a destination where they feel comfortable ... walking around the streets any time of the day or night.

"Bermuda can comfortably and confidently sell itself on this whole question of safety.'' Mr. David Dodwell, president of the Bermuda Hotel Association, agreed that Bermuda scored well when it came to safety. "It's more of a reputation that you work hard to maintain, than something you promote,'' Mr. Dodwell said. He acknowledged advertising experts would disagree, but said: "I don't think (safety) is a promotable item.'' The telephone survey, conducted for Travel and Leisure Magazine, garnered responses from 801 frequent travellers and 154 very frequent travellers, said Mr. Ron Bass, vice-president of Louis Harris.

Frequent travellers are those who in the past year took either three trips within the continental US, Canada, or Mexico, or one trip outside those areas.

Very frequent travellers are those who took 10 trips to any area in the past year.

Frequent travellers account for about 20 percent of all travellers, and very frequent travellers about four percent, Mr. Bass said.

Of frequent travellers, 73 percent ranked a safe destination as very important. Of very frequent travellers, 69 percent ranked safety that high.

Both Mr. Phillips and Mr. Dodwell said Bermuda also scored well on natural beauty, the next most important consideration mentioned in the survey. It was cited by 66 percent of frequent travellers and 69 percent of very frequent travellers.

Low-cost air fare, the next most frequently-cited consideration, was a problem, both men agreed. The cost of air fares was cited by 63 percent of frequent travellers and 59 percent of very frequent travellers.

Mr. Phillips said it was not as big a problem as it once was. "There was a lot of concern about the cost of air service to Bermuda some time ago,'' but recently, "Bermuda has been the beneficiary of more competitive air fares,'' he said.

Mr. Dodwell said: "I don't think we fare as well in that area,'' but "I don't know if we get as many complaints about the air fare recently as we've had in the past.'' Creating their own itineraries was deemed very important by 61 percent of frequent travellers and 69 percent of very frequent travellers.

Low-priced accommodations, visiting a place they had never been, and good beaches, swimming, or water sports were cited next most often.

Mr. Dodwell said he was surprised only nine percent of frequent and very frequent travellers ranked "great golf courses'' as very important.

Despite the small percentage, Bermuda should still try to capture the golfers' market, because it could achieve high penetration in that area, he said.