executive director of the US Travel and Tourism Administration, delivered to a tourism assessment seminar in the US Virgin Islands. It may be that his remarks apply to tourism in this area in general because they certainly apply to Bermuda.

Among the things he said were: "Tourists today expect more from every vacation destination.'' "Tourism economies must provide superior service, create uniqueness and become obsessed with listening to consumers.'' The statement he made which we think most applies to Bermuda was: "You have an excellent product today but improvements can be made and you have to be ready to make changes in the 90s.'' There is no doubt that Bermuda is the best of the islands and the leader in island tourism. Bermuda set the standards and the style and the pace which others have followed. There is nothing basically wrong with Bermuda as a destination or as an attractive place to visit.

Bermuda has been in the visitor business longer than most of today's resorts and has, we think, become fat and careless. Yes, we have an excellent and a very beautiful product but improvements can be made and must be made if we wish to continue as a leader.

While Bermuda provides a good product, we doubt that it gives "more''. And, of course, Bermuda is expected by visitors to give more than most because its price is so high. The people of Bermuda give a good deal in terms of being friendly and helpful to visitors but we doubt if the infrastructure gives very much that is not charged for.

"Tourism economies must provide superior service,'' the expert says. By and large service in Bermuda, in terms of personal service in hotels, restaurants and business places, is quite good. But service means more than that and we fall down when we put the convenience of Bermudians first and expect visitors to provide us with a superior living when we do not give them a superior vacation. We overcharge for taxi transport while making bus trips a hassle and while stopping bus and ferry service at hours which suit local whims. We make airport baggage-handling very difficult. We close our shops at rigid hours and fail to open on holidays. We do all sorts of other small things which suit the convenience of Bermudians but are not best for visitors. We are, after all, in the visitor business.

Tourism economies should "create uniqieness''. Bermuda was once more unique than it is today. Bermuda was once more British and visitors from the US loved that. It once took great care to preserve its character and its architecture and its beaches but today Bermuda talks of "palaces'' on the Elbow Beach dunes which will ape Miami and Acapulco. Bermuda does not need to "create uniqueness'' but it does need to work at preserving what it has because it is unique.

Tourism economies need to become "obsessed with listening to consumers''.

Bermuda does listen in that it surveys departing visitors but we doubt it does much about what it hears, especially if it is not too keen on the answers.

Have we listened to complaints about the automatic gratuity? Grotto Bay was the only one. Did we listen to complaints about the departure tax? Certainly not, we increased that thorn. Did we listen to traffic complaints? No way. We suited ourselves on that. Did we listen to howls about searches at the Airport? If we did, we did little about it. Did we listen to complaints about pricing ourselves out of the market because of how expensive Bermuda was? Not until it was very late and visitors were already staying home.

Mr. Edgell says, "You have to be ready to make changes in the 90s.'' Is Bermuda ready? Well, we are certainly talking about changes a good deal. Is there action? Yes, there is some but not nearly enough, not yet anyway, and it is getting late, very late.